Cash left behind on the subway alone totals '₩3 billion' ... Employee also punished for embezzling a wallet

[Financial News] More than 820,000 lost items were reported on Seoul's subway over nearly six years. Cash alone amounted to about 3 billion won.
On the 16th, according to data Seoul Metro provided to Rep. Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, a total of 820,106 lost items were reported from 2021 through September this year.
The number rose by about 65%, from 101,618 in 2021 to 167,738 last year. A total of 123,879 items were reported through September this year. If the current trend continues, the annual total is expected to exceed 160,000.
Wallets were the most commonly reported item, at 191,223 cases. Clothing came next with 125,174, followed by mobile phones with 114,834 and bags with 109,240. Cash was reported in 52,859 cases, totaling 2.9826 billion won.
The rate at which Seoul Metro directly returned items to their owners, known as the 'direct return rate,' declined every year. It fell from 65.6% in 2021 to 63% in 2022, 60% in 2023, 56.9% in 2024 and 51.5% last year. This year, it stood at just 49.1% as of September.
However, this figure does not represent the rate at which items were ultimately returned to their owners. Seoul Metro holds lost items for seven days and turns them over to the police if they are not claimed during that period.
During the same period, 18 cases of action taken in response to employee misconduct related to lost property were also recorded. Most resulted in internal disciplinary action, such as reprimands or pay cuts. Last year, an employee was fined for embezzling a wallet found on a train.
Rep. Hwang Hee said, "Although the number of lost items is increasing every year, the rate at which they make it back to their owners has fallen to around half," and pointed out, "Seoul Metro should work to help the public recover lost belongings easily and quickly, while establishing internal controls to root out misconduct in lost-property management and restore trust in its management system."
If you leave belongings behind when getting off the subway, check the train number and the time you got off, then report it to station staff. You can also check the status of reports in the 'Find Lost Property' section of Seoul Metro's website.
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter