If your passport is lost or stolen in Korea, preserve the timeline, check the place or transport operator where it disappeared, report theft or urgent safety concerns to police, and contact the embassy or consulate of the country that issued the passport. Your embassy—not a travel site or the Korean lost-property database—decides the replacement or emergency travel-document process for your nationality.
| Situation | First route | Why it is separate |
|---|---|---|
| You know the venue, station, taxi, airport, or hotel | Contact that operator’s lost-property desk | The item may not have reached the police database yet |
| The passport was stolen or there is an immediate threat | Call 112 or go to a police station | Crime and personal safety are not ordinary lost-property searches |
| The loss point is unclear | Search or report through LOST112 and contact police as needed | An online listing is not automatically the document your embassy requires |
| You need a replacement passport or travel document | Your issuing country’s embassy or consulate | Requirements differ by nationality and document type |
Do not publish a full passport number, date of birth, ticket QR code, account password, or an unredacted passport copy in a public lost-item post. Give sensitive identifiers only through the official channel that needs them.
Write the loss timeline before details disappear
Start with the last moment you physically saw the passport. Separate that from the time you noticed it was missing. Then list every place, vehicle, payment, gate, seat, shop, and route between those two moments. Photos, card transactions, transit records, taxi receipts, and booking messages can narrow the search without exposing the passport itself.
- Date and local time last seen
- Date and local time noticed missing
- Venue, hotel, station, airport terminal, vehicle, or taxi route
- Bag pocket or holder where it was stored
- Passport country and holder name
- Distinctive cover or case, without publishing sensitive numbers
- Whether cash, cards, phone, or other documents are also missing
- Any evidence suggesting theft rather than accidental loss
If the phone or wallet is also gone, use a trusted device to secure email, banking, mobile-carrier, and travel accounts. Do not let the document search delay card blocking or an urgent safety report.
Search the most likely custodian first
A passport left on a train, taxi, airport counter, hotel desk, restaurant table, or event seat may first be held by the operator. Contact that operator with the date, route, time, seat, gate, car, pickup, or drop-off. “Lost in Seoul” is too broad; “Line 2 train toward City Hall, boarded at 20:10, car near exit 7” is actionable.
| Likely place | Useful details | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi | Pickup, drop-off, payment time, vehicle or app record | Receipt, card charge, booking history |
| Subway or bus | Line, direction, stations, boarding time, car or stop | Map history, transit route, companion’s record |
| Airport | Terminal, airline, counter, security area, gate | Boarding pass and itinerary |
| Hotel, restaurant, or venue | Room, table, seat, gate, floor, visit time | Booking, receipt, ticket, photograph |
Use LOST112 for lost-property routing, not as a universal passport solution
The Korean National Police Agency operates LOST112, which allows users to search found items and provides a lost-item report route. Some reporting functions require an account, and the system distinguishes searching found items from filing a lost-item report.
A LOST112 search result does not prove the passport is yours, guarantee recovery, replace a police crime report, or satisfy the issuing embassy’s document requirements. If the passport was stolen, if another crime occurred, or if you are unsafe, call 112. Ask the embassy what police documentation it requires before assuming an online confirmation is sufficient.
Contact the embassy that issued your passport
Use your government’s official embassy or consulate website, not a number copied from a blog or map review. Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides a foreign-missions route, and the official visitor emergency page also directs travelers to diplomatic missions.
- Open the official embassy or consulate website for your nationality.
- Use its lost-passport or emergency-consular instructions.
- Confirm whether an appointment is required and which office handles the case.
- Ask exactly which police document, identity evidence, photographs, fees, and travel proof are required.
- Ask whether the replacement is a full passport, emergency passport, or another travel document and where it is valid.
- Ask what to do if the old passport is found after reporting it lost.
Rules differ by issuing country. Some authorities invalidate a passport once a formal loss report is accepted, even if the physical passport later reappears. Do not attempt to travel on a recovered passport until the issuing authority confirms that it remains valid.
Check the departure chain after the replacement is issued
A replacement document solves only one part of the journey. The airline booking may contain the old passport number, a visa or travel authorization may be tied to the old document, and the embassy may give specific immigration or departure instructions. Verify each part with the authority responsible for it.
- Embassy or consulate: validity and scope of the new document
- Airline: booking record, check-in, and document acceptance
- Korean immigration: departure or stay questions that apply to the case
- Destination or transit authority: visa or authorization linked to the old passport
- Travel insurer: covered replacement, transport, or extra-stay documents
Do not assume an emergency document is accepted for every transit country or that the original itinerary can remain unchanged. Get answers from the issuing authority, airline, and relevant immigration authority. Save the names, dates, and reference numbers of those conversations.
If the passport is found
If it is found before any formal report, tell the operator or police handling the search. If it is found after a report to police, LOST112, or your embassy, contact each relevant authority and follow their instructions. Never assume deleting an online report reverses an official passport cancellation.
For the broader route when a phone, wallet, or other item is missing, use the lost-item section of the Before Korea emergency guide. Keep travel documents and backup payment methods separated as recommended in the first-time Korea checklist.
Questions travelers ask after losing a passport
Is LOST112 the same as a police report?
Do not assume so. LOST112 includes lost-and-found search and reporting functions, but an embassy may require a particular police document. Ask the embassy what it accepts and obtain that document through the instructed channel.
Can my hotel replace the passport process?
No. Hotel staff may help call, translate, print documents, or identify the nearest police station, but the police, embassy, airline, and immigration authorities control their own parts of the process.
Should I post a passport copy to prove ownership?
No. Provide identity evidence privately to the official organization handling the case. Publicly sharing an unredacted passport copy creates another security problem.
Last checked: August 9, 2026. Official references: the Korean National Police Agency LOST112 service, VISITKOREA emergency information, and the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs missions route. Passport replacement rules must be verified with the traveler’s own issuing authority.