#93 2022 · Korean National Police Agency (with Cheil Worldwide) · Public safetyredesign-the-moment
Korean National Police Agency, watching domestic-violence reports fall even as the underlying cases didn't, let victims trapped with their abuser answer the emergency line with two taps instead of a voice
the problem
Domestic-violence victims can't safely speak when calling for help
background
South Korea's emergency line 112 works like any other: a caller talks, a dispatcher listens, help is routed. But the Korean National Police Agency's own reporting showed domestic-violence cases reported through the line falling even as the underlying problem didn't. The read: many victims were confined in the same room as their abuser and simply couldn't talk into a phone without being heard — the call itself was the danger.
Cheil Worldwide, working with KNPA's 112 situation-room staff, redesigned the interaction rather than the messaging around it. Launched in September 2022 and rolled out to thousands of call handlers nationwide, the fix required no app install and no spoken word: a caller in trouble only had to reach the keypad.
the move
After dialing 112 and giving no verbal response, a caller taps any number key twice — inspired by a knock, or Morse code. The call handler reads the double-tap as a distress signal and sends a text link back: opening it silently shares live location and camera feed with the officer, and opens a chat window disguised as a search-engine page so the caller can type without an abuser recognizing it as a police channel.
the payoff
In the first month after the September 2022 launch, the system reportedly sent 5,749 links to silent callers. South Korea subsequently made the double-tap gesture an official part of the 112 protocol, and the campaign won the Glass: The Lion for Change Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2023. Beyond that first-month count and individually reported rescues, there is no public multi-year usage or case-resolution dataset — the strongest verifiable claims are the launch-month figure, the formal protocol adoption, and the award record; broader long-run impact is not independently documented.
what came after
The tap gesture is now standing national emergency-call protocol in South Korea, not just an ad campaign — call handlers are trained on it as routine procedure, and it continues to be cited in police press cases years after launch.
filed under
references
- [1]Cannes 2023 Glass Lion Grand Prix: 'Knock Knock' silent domestic violence campaign from Cheil WorldwideAd Age, 2023adage.com
- [2]Quick-thinking South Korean police officer rescues woman after silent 112 call for helpSouth China Morning Post, 2025scmp.com