How to recover an item left in a Kakao T taxi

If you booked your cab with Kakao T, you're in luck: the app keeps a record of every trip, so you can identify the exact car and reach the driver — even if you don't speak Korean. Here's how.

Step 1: Open your ride history

In the Kakao T app, go to your trip history and open the ride you think you left the item on. The record has the date, time, route, and the car — everything support needs to find it.

Step 2: Contact Kakao T support

From the trip, contact Kakao T customer support (in-app chat or the KakaoTalk channel) and explain what you left and when. Support can relay your request and contact details to the driver, who can arrange to return the item.

Step 3: If the driver can't be reached

Drivers don't always respond immediately. If a day passes with no contact:

• Ask support to try again, and confirm they've flagged the item.
• Check Police Minwon24 (formerly LOST112), the national police lost-and-found portal — unclaimed items handed in by drivers are registered there and searchable by date and item type.

What details help most

Have these ready when you contact support: the trip date and time, your drop-off point, and a clear description of the item (color, brand, case, contents). Photos help.

If it has reached the police

An item a driver hands in appears in Police Minwon24 (formerly LOST112) at minwon24.police.go.kr. How to search it is in the police lost & found guide.

Two things are true wherever the item came from. Nothing appears there for days after the handover, so an early search proves little and is not a reason to stop looking. And the record shows where the item was handed in — the office, depot or station that received it — not where you lost it, so keep the region wide and lead with item type and date.

If Korean is the barrier

1330 is Korea's tourist help line, run by the Korea Tourism Organization. It is free, answers 24 hours a day, and offers interpretation in English, Japanese, Chinese and other languages.

It is not a lost & found office — it holds no items and keeps no database. What it does is interpret, including on a three-way call with Kakao T support, a driver or a police station, and explain what a Korean-language page or notice actually says.

If the item is located but you cannot collect it in person — you have left Korea, or the office holding it is hours away — it can be released to someone acting for you with written authorization and their own ID, and shipping abroad is arranged by whoever collects it: here's what that takes.

Related: How to recover a lost item in a Korean taxi — all the tracing methods, including card and plate lookups.