The inherent risk of sea life poses a threat to the safety of ships and people on board. In the event of a person in distress, The obligation to provide assistance to those in distress was a firm custom formed among sailors even before it was constituted as a legal obligation through international agreements and domestic laws because the value of life cannot be converted to money unlike ships or cargo, However, in the event of ship distress the coastal country is reluctant to provide assistance for its own safety especially if the vessel poses a risk to the safety and environment of the coastal country, Getting proper treatment from offshore coasts or ports with the help of coastal countries is the most reliable way to reduce the risk of ships for such vessels, but there is no international legal obligation to provide ship’s entry as a part of coasal countries’s assistance. However, a series of accidents triggered discussions in the international society about the issue of allowing coastal states to enter a safe place, that is, a place of refuge, as a part of assistance to endangered ships. Korea also actually experienced the problem of assist for distressed ships through the Maritime Mage accident, so need to examine Korean domestic system by referring to the guidelines proposed by the international community. Therefore, this thesis examines the definition of a ship in distress, changes in the international community's perspective on the handling of ships in need of assistance, suggested guidelines, and cases of cooperation with other regions. Through this, it proposed to expand the concept of ship distress for the smooth assistance of distressed ships in the relevant domestic system, establish regulations for risk assessment of distressed ships, and develop a Northeast Asian multilateral agreement.