Can I get my seized phone back in Korea?

What Korean law says

Article 218-2(1): as to seized property that no longer needs to be retained, such as where a copy has been secured, and as to seized property to be used in evidence, the prosecutor must return or provisionally return it on the request of the owner, possessor, custodian or submitter, even before a prosecution is instituted.

Paragraph 2: where the prosecutor refuses the request, the applicant may apply to the court corresponding to the prosecutor’s office for a decision ordering return or provisional return. Paragraph 3: where the court so decides, the prosecutor must return the property. Paragraph 4 applies the same rules to dispositions by judicial police officers.

Criminal Procedure Act, Article 218-2. Act No. 21241, in force from 1 July 2026.

What usually happens in practice

The phrase that does the work is the one about a copy having been secured. Digital devices are rarely needed in their physical form once the data has been extracted, and that is the argument that gets a phone back: the evidential purpose has already been served by the image, so continued retention of the handset is no longer necessary.

Provisional return is worth asking about as a fallback. It returns the item while leaving the seizure formally in place, which is often easier for an investigator to agree to than a permanent return, and it solves the practical problem of having no phone.

Nothing happens automatically. The statute is built around a request, so a request has to be made.

What you should do next

• Make the request in writing rather than asking in passing.
• Ask whether extraction is complete. That is the fact the argument rests on.
• Ask for provisional return if permanent return is refused.
• If refused outright, the court route in paragraph 2 exists and is not exotic.

Written and reviewed by Soobin You, Attorney at YUSU Lawfirm. Former prosecutor. Last legal review: 12 September 2026.