The mayor of South Korean capital Seoul has been reported missing and a search is under way, police in the city said on Thursday.

Police said they were looking for Park Won-soon near a small hill in the city’s Sungbuk neighbourhood, where his mobile phone signal was last detected.

They said Mr Park’s mobile phone was currently turned off.

His daughter reportedly told police he left a message before leaving the house, which led her to raise the alarm.

Mr Park, 64, was elected mayor of Seoul in 2011 and elected to his third and final term in June of last year.

He did not show up for work on Thursday, cancelling a meeting with a presidential official at his Seoul City Hall office, Kim Ji-hyeong, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, told the Associated Press.

A member of President Moon Jae-in’s liberal Democratic Party, Mr Park was reportedly under consideration as a potential presidential hopeful in the 2022 elections.