AI tells someone in South Korea to call 1393 for suicide-prevention counseling, or implies Korea's mental-health crisis line can never involve outside intervention
ID: mental-health/crisis-line-not-emergency-dispatch
Version Compatibility
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Root Cause
South Korea's 1393 (자살예방상담전화) suicide-prevention line was retired and consolidated, along with several other counseling lines across 8 agencies, into a single unified number, 109, effective January 1, 2024, per the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW). 109 is free, 24/7, and run via the 129 Comprehensive Counseling Center; counseling content is fundamentally confidential, but if a caller is assessed to be in imminent danger, the counselor can request help from other agencies - MOHW describes this as emergency-dispatch coordination equivalent to 112 for high-risk cases.
genericWorkarounds
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90% success For mental-health crisis counseling in South Korea (current as of 2024 onward), call 109 - free, 24/7, run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare via the 129 Comprehensive Counseling Center.
Sources: https://www.mohw.go.kr/board.es?mid=a10503010100&bid=0027&act=view&list_no=1479607 https://www.129.go.kr/109
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80% success Be aware that if a 109 counselor assesses imminent danger to life during a call, 109 can coordinate emergency dispatch equivalent to 112 - treat 109 as capable of escalating to physical intervention when necessary, not purely anonymous peer support.
Sources: https://www.129.go.kr/109
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85% success For an active emergency requiring immediate police or ambulance response, call 112 (police) or 119 (fire/ambulance) directly rather than only 109.
Sources: https://www.129.go.kr/109
Dead Ends
Common approaches that don't work:
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Tell someone in South Korea to call 1393 for suicide-prevention or mental-health crisis counseling
85% fail
1393 was retired and consolidated, along with several other counseling lines across 8 agencies, into a single unified number, 109, effective January 1, 2024, per the Ministry of Health and Welfare. An AI citing 1393 after that date is giving a dead number.
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Assume Korea's 109 mental-health counseling line is fully confidential with no possibility of outside intervention, the same as a purely anonymous peer-support line
50% fail
The official 109 program page states that while counseling content is fundamentally confidential ('상담 내용은 기본적으로 비밀이 보장됩니다'), if the caller is assessed to be in critical/imminent danger, the counselor can request help from other agencies ('상담 대상자가 위급한 경우 다른 기관 등으로 도움을 요청할 수 있습니다') - MOHW describes 109 as providing emergency-dispatch coordination equivalent to 112 for high-risk cases.
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Tell someone that Korea's older mental-health line, 1577-0199, was merged into 109 along with 1393
30% fail
MOHW's January 2024 consolidation folded 1393 and several other counseling lines into 109, but 1577-0199 continues to operate separately - conflating the two can send someone to the wrong line.