Wallets top the list at 191,223 items; 820,000 lost items logged over nearly six years, per data obtained by lawmaker Hwang Hee. Return rate has fallen every year since 2021.
An average of 460 lost items were reported daily on the Seoul subway last year. The number of belongings left behind by passengers — wallets, phones and more — has grown every year, but the share actually returned to their owners has been falling.
Data obtained from Seoul Metro by Hwang Hee, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker representing Seoul's Yangcheon-gu A district and a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, show that a total of 820,106 lost items were logged on the Seoul subway from 2021 through September this year.
The annual figures rose steadily: 101,618 items in 2021, 127,387 in 2022, 146,944 in 2023, 152,540 in 2024 and 167,738 last year — a 65.1 percent increase over five years. A further 123,879 items have been reported through September this year.
Wallets were the most commonly lost item, accounting for 191,223 cases. Clothing came next at 125,174, followed by mobile phones at 114,834, bags at 109,240 and valuables at 49,028. Other items totaled 230,607.
Of all items logged, 468,915 — or 57.2 percent — were returned directly to their owners. Another 320,389 items (39.1 percent) were transferred to police or otherwise disposed of, while the remaining 30,802 were still in storage as of the end of September.
Cash losses were also substantial. Over the same period, 52,859 cash items were reported, totaling 2.98 billion won ($2.21 million). Of that amount, 2.22 billion won (74.4 percent) was returned to owners, while 763.8 million won (25.6 percent) was handed over to police.
The station with the most lost items last year was Banghwa Station on Line 5, with 8,943 cases, followed by Yangcheon-gu Office Station on Line 2 with 6,121 and Bonghwasan Station on Line 6 with 4,724. Terminal stations tend to accumulate more lost items because belongings left on trains are collected there.
Misconduct by staff in handling lost items was also documented. Seoul Metro's data identified 18 cases of employee violations related to lost-item management.
At Gimpo Airport Station last year, an employee who took 320,000 won in cash from a found wallet was summarily indicted and fined 1 million won. At Sadang Station, another employee who took some items from a passenger's bag was given a deferred prosecution. Seoul Metro imposed pay-cut disciplinary measures on both workers.
"Lost items — someone's valuable assets — keep piling up every year, but the rate at which they actually make it back to their owners has dropped to around half," Hwang said. He called on Seoul Metro to overhaul its return guidance and search systems so passengers can recover lost belongings more easily and quickly, and to put in place rigorous internal controls to stamp out misconduct and restore public trust in lost-item management.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
