Seoul renames emergency panic buttons under unified 'Ansim' brand

Seeking to eliminate public confusion surrounding its city-funded panic-button network, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is consolidating three separately branded safety devices under a single banner: the Seoul Ansim Bell.

Derived from the Korean word for "peace of mind," the Ansim network provides residents, small business owners and schoolchildren with physical emergency buttons — wearable keychains or desk-mounted alarms — that instantly signal local police and monitoring centers during a crisis. However, municipal planners realized that marketing the devices under different names and visual designs left residents unclear about who was eligible for which device or what kind of protection it offered.

Under the new unified branding, the general-use "Ansim Helpme" wearable device becomes the "Donghaeng (Companion) Ansim Bell." A warning-light unit designed for small business owners, previously known as the "Ansim Gyeonggwangdeung," becomes the "Small Business Ansim Bell." Meanwhile, a specialized device tailored for young children will retain its established name, the "Elementary School Ansim Bell."

The rebranding comes as demand for personal safety tech expands across the capital.

Since launching the initiative in 2024, Seoul has distributed roughly 630,000 devices through July of this year. Designed to provide immediate access to emergency services, pressing the device’s physical button triggers an audible alarm, transmits a distress signal to a central monitoring center and automatically sends real-time GPS coordinates via text to up to five pre-selected contacts. The companion model goes a step further, automatically transmitting a photo or five-second video clip directly to dispatchers.

To date, the devices have logged roughly 6,000 emergency reports, with more than 100 incident dispatches resulting in direct police interventions, protective restraining orders, or criminal arrests.

Building on that momentum, municipal planners are preparing to roll out an upgraded 2026 companion device featuring design and functional enhancements driven by user feedback. Public applications for the new model are scheduled to open in late September.

"The unified brand is meant to protect any citizen in an emergency," said Kim Seon-soon, director of Seoul's Women and Family Policy Affairs Office, emphasizing that the city will continue investing to ensure residents feel secure in their daily routines.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.