You left your phone in a taxi. What do you actually owe the driver who found it?

Ten minutes after stepping out of a taxi in Seoul, you realize your phone is gone. Fortunately the driver notices before picking up another fare, and a number left on a ride-hailing app connects you. At the meeting point, he hands the phone back with a slightly awkward smile. One question runs through your head: what now.

Most travelers either pull a few bills from their wallet on the spot or simply repeat their thanks and walk away. Neither is wrong, exactly, but few people realize Korean law already has a specific answer for this moment.

The awkwardness comes from having no scale to measure against. Too little feels stingy, too much feels performative. It gets murkier still when the item is handed back directly, with no police station involved — without that formal step, it can feel like the whole thing is left to private judgment.

But the Lost Property Act applies either way, whether a police station is involved or not. Whether the finder returns the item directly to the owner or through a lost-and-found center, the law sets the reward at between 5 and 20 percent of the item's value. That range is the standard the law sets in recognition of the finder's effort and honesty. For a phone worth 1,000,000 won, that means somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000 won.

In practice, it works like this.

1. Estimate the item's value based on resale price or original purchase cost.
2. Set a percentage within that 5 to 20 range, adjusted for the effort involved — how far they traveled, how long they held onto it.
3. Cash isn't required; a bank transfer works just as well, and a quick note or receipt keeps things clean for both sides.
4. Keep in mind that once a month has passed since the item was returned, the finder loses the right to claim a reward at all. Before that deadline, though, it is a right they can legitimately assert.

Gratitude can be spoken, but in Korea the law has already attached a number to it.

Taking the phone back in the taxi's back seat, there is no need to hesitate over whether to open your wallet. The number is already set — all that is left is deciding where in that range your thanks should land.