A traffic accident (교통사고) in Korea sets off three separate processes at once: an insurance claim to sort out repair costs and compensation, a police report that documents fault, and — if anyone is injured — a potential criminal case against the driver found responsible. Understanding how these three interact is the difference between a smooth resolution and a drawn-out dispute.

1Call the Police and Insurance Immediately — Don't Settle at the Scene

Report the accident to the police (112) and your insurance company before agreeing to anything with the other driver, even if the damage looks minor or the other driver offers cash to "handle it privately." Informal settlements at the scene routinely fall apart once injuries surface days later or repair estimates come in higher than expected, and without a police report or insurance record, you have far less leverage to enforce whatever was agreed.

2Fault Ratio (과실비율) Determines Almost Everything

Korean traffic accidents are resolved primarily around a fault ratio (과실비율) — a percentage split of responsibility between the drivers, based on standardized fault-ratio tables (과실비율 인정기준) that insurers and courts reference for common accident patterns (rear-end collisions, lane changes, intersection accidents, and so on). Your compensation and, if you're the more at-fault party, your liability are both calculated off this ratio — a 20% swing in fault percentage can mean a very different final number, which is why disputing an unfair fault assessment is often worth the effort.

3Insurance Handles Compensation — But You Can Dispute Their Assessment

Both drivers' insurance companies (or one, if only one carries coverage) typically negotiate the fault ratio and compensation amount between themselves, and you'll be asked to accept a settlement offer at some point. You are not obligated to accept the first offer — if the fault ratio feels wrong or the compensation for injury, lost income, or vehicle damage feels low, you can dispute it through the Korea Insurance Dispute Mediation Committee (금융분쟁조정위원회) or ultimately through civil litigation, though most disputes resolve well before that stage.

The fault ratio insurers propose in the first week is a negotiating position, not a final determination — foreign drivers who accept it without question often leave real compensation on the table.

4Serious Injury Can Trigger a Criminal Case

If someone is injured, the at-fault driver can face a criminal charge for negligent bodily injury while driving (교통사고처리 특례법 위반), separate from the civil/insurance process. Having valid liability insurance and the injured party's acceptance of a settlement (합의) generally allows the case to be resolved without prosecution for most ordinary injury accidents — but this protection doesn't apply to a specific list of aggravated violations (fleeing the scene, drunk driving, running a red light, and several others), where a criminal case proceeds regardless of insurance or settlement.

5Never Leave the Scene, Even If You Think It's Minor

Leaving the scene of an accident without exchanging information or reporting it — a hit-and-run (뺑소니) — is treated as a serious aggravating factor and can turn what would have been a minor civil matter into a criminal case, even if the original collision itself was minor or arguably not your fault. If you're unsure whether to move your vehicle after a crash, call the police first and let them guide you rather than driving away.

6Foreign Driver's Licenses and International Permits

An accident while driving on an expired international driving permit (국제운전면허), or one no longer valid because you've been in Korea beyond the permit's coverage period, can complicate both your insurance coverage and any resulting legal case — insurers may deny claims tied to invalid licensing. Confirm your permit's validity period and Korea-specific rules before you drive, not after an accident forces the question.

→If You've Just Been in an Accident

  1. Call the police (112) and your insurer before agreeing to anything informally.
  2. Photograph the scene, vehicle positions, damage, and any visible injuries before vehicles are moved, if it's safe to do so.
  3. Get medical evaluation even for minor-feeling injuries — some injuries surface days later, and documentation matters for both insurance and any criminal referral.
  4. Don't accept the first fault ratio (과실비율) or settlement offer without review if anything about it feels off.

→A Note for Latin American Clients

The layered structure of Korean traffic accident resolution — insurance, fault-ratio tables, and a separate criminal track for injuries — often works quite differently from the systems clients from Latin America are used to. I help Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking clients navigate insurance negotiations, dispute unfair fault assessments, and manage the criminal side of an accident case when it applies.