If your passport is lost in Korea, secure your phone and cards, search the last controlled location briefly, then contact your passport-issuing embassy or consulate immediately. Report theft to police; for an ordinary lost item, use Korea's lost-property channels while the embassy explains cancellation and replacement.
Do not go to the airport hoping a photo or photocopy will work. A reported passport may be cancelled, and only your issuing authority can confirm which replacement document you need.
Search briefly, separate loss from theft, save the incident details, contact your embassy, and tell it your departure date and route. If you are a resident, ask Korea Immigration Service whether the new passport details must be updated before your next procedure or trip.
First 15 minutes: protect yourself and retrace
Freeze exposed payment cards, write down the last confirmed location, and make one focused search without delaying an urgent theft report.
Check the hotel safe, taxi seat, restaurant counter, station gate, airport tray, and the bag pocket used at check-in. Give staff a time window and plain description, but do not send a passport scan through an unverified account.
If the passport vanished on the metro, start with the station office and this Korea subway lost-and-found guide. A quick recovery is possible, but an approaching flight or signs of theft should move you to reporting and consular contact now.
Choose the correct Korean reporting channel
Call 112 for theft or immediate danger; for a lost item, use 182 or LOST112, and use 1330 when tourist interpretation is needed.
Korea Tourism Organization's official travel guide directs theft victims to police at 112 and lost-item cases to 182 or LOST112. It also lists the 1330 Korea Travel Helpline for multilingual tourist help and interpretation. Our Korea emergency numbers guide helps distinguish urgent and non-urgent calls.
Record the date, approximate time, place, police station or reference number, and whether other identity documents were taken. A police report can document the circumstances, but it does not itself create a replacement passport.
If your issuing authority records the passport as lost or stolen, assume it is no longer valid even if it later appears. Ask the embassy what to do with the recovered booklet.
Contact the embassy that issued your passport
Use the official website of your own embassy or consulate in Korea and state your nationality, location, departure date, and whether the passport was lost or stolen.
Procedures differ by nationality. Ask whether you need an appointment, police report, passport photo, identity evidence, application form, fee, or travel itinerary. United States guidance, for example, tells its citizens to report the passport promptly, appear at an embassy or consulate for replacement, and disclose imminent travel; that list is not a universal checklist for other nationalities.
Prepare for replacement without guessing requirements
Gather whatever identity and travel evidence you still have, but let the embassy confirm the exact document set and whether it will issue a full or emergency passport.
Useful items may include a passport copy, another photo ID, a recent photo, police reference, itinerary, and proof of citizenship. Send files only through the embassy's confirmed channel. For a child or a theft involving every ID, disclose that at first contact because extra steps may apply.
Check residence, visa, and arrival records
After a new document is issued, foreign residents should ask 1345 whether and how their passport information must be updated; visitors should verify any travel authorization or arrival record tied to the old number.
Korea Immigration Service describes 1345 as its multilingual immigration and living-information contact center. Call with your residence status, old and new passport details, planned departure, and the date the replacement was issued. Do not assume that an embassy replacement automatically updates Korean records.
Rebuild the departure plan
Confirm the replacement document first, then ask the airline and every transit-country authority whether that document and route are accepted.
An emergency travel document may have route or validity limits. Give the embassy your full itinerary, including transit airports, before changing a ticket. After issuance, contact the airline using the new document details and confirm whether online check-in must be replaced by counter check-in.
Do not book a non-refundable flight based on an estimated consular time. For departure within hours, contact the embassy's official emergency channel and the airline.
You have the embassy's written instructions, the incident reference if applicable, an accepted replacement document, confirmed immigration-record steps, and airline approval for the full route.
Frequently asked questions
The key distinction is simple: Korean services document and search the incident, while your passport authority decides cancellation and replacement.
Should I wait for LOST112 before contacting my embassy?
No if departure is near, theft is suspected, or the passport may be misused. You can keep checking lost-property channels while following the embassy's instructions.
Can I fly with a passport photo on my phone?
A copy helps prove identity but is not a travel document. Obtain the valid replacement specified by your issuing authority and accepted for your route.
What is the exact next step if the case is still unresolved?
Call the embassy's official emergency contact with your incident details and itinerary. Residents should also call 1345; imminent travelers should keep the airline informed and avoid the airport until document acceptance is confirmed.
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