Lost Property in Korea: LOST112 Search, Reporting and Collection

Start with the place you last had it

If you have just left a train, taxi or bus, contact its staff or operator while the journey is still identifiable. Then search found items on Police Civil Service 24, the current police route for LOST112 enquiries. Search results tell you who is holding an item; they do not arrange its return.

This guide covers misplaced belongings. For immediate danger, suspected theft or urgent help, use our Korea emergency and travel-help guide. Here, the next steps are finding a matching record, contacting its keeper and arranging collection.

Choose the first person to contact

• Subway or train: tell station staff promptly. Write down the line, direction, station and time you got off; add the carriage or platform-door position if known. For a reserved train, keep the train number, carriage and seat. SRT’s official instructions specifically ask for the travel date, train, route, carriage, seat and item description.
• Taxi: keep the receipt or open the completed ride in the booking app. Use that ride’s support route or the operator details on the receipt. Record the time, pickup and drop-off points, and vehicle number if available. Our taxi guide explains which journey records to keep.
• Bus: record the route number, direction, boarding and exit stops, approximate time and vehicle number if known. Contact the operator of that route; a route number alone may not identify a particular vehicle. See the Seoul bus guide for identifying your bus and stop.
• Shop, restaurant or hotel: contact that specific location first. An item may still be there before a police entry appears.
• Incheon Airport: terminal belongings go through the airport’s lost-and-found office; something left on a plane or a checked-baggage problem goes to the airline. Airport trains and buses have their own operators. Use the airport’s official handling-agency list to choose the right destination.

Do not assume that every subway line or every vehicle serving an airport shares one lost-and-found counter. The keeper shown in a matching record is the place to confirm before travelling.

Search LOST112 through the current police portal

If an old LOST112 bookmark does not open, start at Police Civil Service 24 and choose 습득물 검색. This searches objects that have been found. 분실물 검색 is a different list: reports made by people who lost something.

On 30 October 2026, we opened the public search and filtered wallets in Seoul without logging in or providing a Korean phone number. Filing a loss report is separate and showed a login requirement. This check does not establish that a visitor can complete online identity verification.

1. Open 습득물 검색 and expand 검색 필터 if needed.
2. Start with the item category and a date range. The date field is when an item was found, so include the days after you lost it. Our visit defaulted to the previous week; check the displayed dates rather than accepting them blindly.
3. Add a region if it helps. Start broadly if your trip crossed city boundaries. Leave the item name and detailed location blank initially if you do not know how staff described it.
4. Select 검색하기, compare the results, then use 자세히 보기 for a possible match. Keep the management number and the keeper’s details.

Swipe or scroll to see all columns.

No result, or LOST112 will not open?

First remove the exact item-name filter, widen the found-date range and check nearby regions. Avoid selecting a specific keeper before you know who has it. A missing result means no match was found with those conditions; it does not prove that nobody handed the item in.

Contact the last venue or transport operator as well. The police procedure guide explains that institutions may transfer items to police after seven days or immediately. Do not wait seven days before asking, and do not assume the first keeper still has it.

If the current portal also fails, save your journey details and use the operator or a nearby police station. Repeatedly trying an old link is not a substitute for contacting a place that may already hold the object.

Report a loss when online login is a barrier

The official loss-report service accepts online and in-person reports. Online reporting is called 분실물 신고. If you cannot complete its login or identity checks, visit a nearby police station, district police unit or police substation (경찰서·지구대·파출소) instead.

Prepare the loss date, approximate time, route or venue, item colour and identifying features, and a way to contact you. Bring identification if available and ask staff what is needed for your situation. Keep any receipt and management number. Do not borrow another person’s account to file in their name.

The police guide says an online report cannot be edited: it must be cancelled and filed again with the corrected details. For an in-person report, ask the receiving office how to correct it using the management number.

Confirm the match before travelling to collect it

Tell the keeper the management number and describe details that distinguish your object, such as a case, mark or contents. Ask whether it is still there, the exact collection address and hours, and which identification or proof of ownership they require. A similar photograph alone is not confirmation that the item is yours.

Collecting on someone else’s behalf has separate rules. For example, SRT specifies its authorisation form, a copy of the owner’s ID and the representative’s ID. Other keepers may require a different process. Confirm this before asking a friend to make the journey.

If your flight leaves before you can collect it

Ask the keeper about proxy collection or delivery while you are still reachable. Do not assume that a Korean parcel service can ship overseas, that every object is eligible, or that a hotel will accept it after checkout.

At Incheon Airport, the published in-person requirements are the owner’s ID and the item registration number. Proxy collection needs the owner’s ID copy, the collector’s ID and the registration number, with the collector’s details supplied in advance. Confirm delivery eligibility and destination directly with the office.

• Incheon T1: [email protected]; B1, west side.
• Incheon T2: [email protected]; B1, east side.

The airport lists both offices as open 07:00–21:30 daily. Foreign passports are held for one month before transfer to the relevant embassy, so ask about a missing passport promptly. These are Incheon Airport rules, not a nationwide collection policy.

Korean phrases to show the staff

• 물건을 잃어버렸어요. — I lost something.
• 관리번호는 ___입니다. 아직 보관 중인가요? — The management number is ___. Are you still holding it?
• 수령 장소와 운영시간을 알려 주세요. — Please tell me the collection location and opening hours.
• 한국 휴대전화 번호가 없어요. 방문해서 분실 신고를 할 수 있나요? — I do not have a Korean phone number. Can I report the loss in person?
• 곧 출국해요. 대리 수령에 필요한 서류가 무엇인가요? — I am leaving Korea soon. What documents are needed for someone to collect it for me?

Keep identifying documents private and provide them only through the keeper’s confirmed official process. Use the travel-help guide if you need interpretation or help with a lost passport; use your taxi record or bus route details to make the first enquiry specific.