How to Pay in Korea

At a glance

Seoul pays by card almost everywhere. Even a single coffee at a convenience store goes on a card. There are only two places a traveler gets stuck.

• Machines: kiosks, table tablets and the terminals in unstaffed shops often decline foreign cards
• Korean apps: mobile wallets such as Naver Pay and Kakao Pay need a Korean phone number to sign up

So the combination that suits a traveler is usually this.

• A foreign credit or debit card: works at almost any counter with a person behind it
• A prepaid card for visitors (WOWPASS and others): processed like a Korean card, so it works on machines too
• A little cash: ₩30,000 to ₩50,000 or so, for market stalls and topping up a transit card
• Your own country's mobile wallet: if you use Alipay, WeChat Pay or similar, quite a few shops take it

Transit fares are covered separately in the T-money guide.

Foreign cards

Visa and Mastercard are taken almost anywhere with a counter. American Express, Discover and Diners are refused at a fair number of places, so bring a Visa or Mastercard as well.

• Inserting is the default. Tapping a card on the terminal (Apple Pay and Google Pay included) is still uncommon in Korea. Where a terminal shows the contactless symbol, Apple Pay with a foreign card works
• Pay in won. If the terminal or the cashier asks whether to charge in won (KRW) or your home currency, choose won. Your home currency means the shop's exchange rate, which is usually worse
• Signature: if the screen asks you to sign, any scribble with your finger will do. Small amounts often need no signature at all

When a kiosk or table tablet declines your foreign card, see Eating at a Korean Restaurant. The problem is not your card but a machine built mainly for Korean cards, so try again at the counter.

Naver Pay and Kakao Pay

These are the mobile wallets Koreans use most. Their logos are on shop counters, and the 간편결제 (mobile pay) button on a kiosk usually means these apps. For a traveler, though, they are hard to use.

• Kakao Pay: signing up requires identity verification with a Korean phone number. Treat it as closed to travelers
• Naver Pay: since June 2026 Naver has let foreigners verify their identity with a passport, and Naver Map's reservations, orders and payments have begun to open to travelers. Whether a foreign card can be added to Naver Pay depends on the issuer, though, and paying with Naver Pay at a shop counter can't yet be counted on for a traveler

Naver Pay has announced a payment service for visitors to Korea for 2027. Until then, it's easier to plan on traveling without these two apps. Why a Korean number is needed, and how Naver's passport verification works, is in the identity verification guide.

Prepaid cards for visitors

These are top-up cards made for foreign travelers. They are processed like a Korean card at checkout, so they often work at kiosks and unstaffed shops that decline foreign cards. They include a transit card as well.

WOWPASS

• Getting one: issued on the spot at orange self-service machines at the airport, major subway stations, hotels and elsewhere. Install the WOWPASS app first
• Topping up: feed your home currency in cash into the machine and it is converted and loaded in won (16 currencies). You can also top up with a foreign card in the app
• Cash withdrawal: the machines dispense won in cash, up to ₩100,000 at a time, for a ₩1,000 fee each time
• Transit card: the payment balance and the transit balance are kept separately. Check in the app how to top up the transit side

NAMANE

• You can put a photo of your choice on the front of the card, which makes it a popular souvenir
• Topped up in the app with a foreign card
• It has fewer machines to get one from than WOWPASS

Alipay, WeChat Pay and other home-country wallets

The mobile wallet you use at home may work in Korea as it is. No Korean app to sign up for, and no currency to exchange.

• Apps connected through Alipay+: Alipay (China), AlipayHK (Hong Kong), PayPay (Japan), Touch 'n Go (Malaysia), GCash (the Philippines), MPay (Macao) and others. They connect to more than 2 million merchants in Korea (as of November 2025)
• WeChat Pay: at ZeroPay merchants, scan the shop's ZeroPay QR code with the WeChat app to pay

Acceptance started at places full of tourists, such as department stores, duty-free shops and cosmetics stores, and has spread to restaurants, markets and clinics. Seoul's 70,000-plus taxis and the limousine buses from Incheon Airport take Alipay+ too.

1. Check the counter. Look for an Alipay+, Alipay, WeChat Pay or ZeroPay logo
2. How you pay depends on the shop. Either scan the shop's QR code with your app, or show your app's payment code to the cashier
3. If you're unsure, ask. Show the app screen and say igeo dwaeyo? (이거 돼요?, "does this work?")

Cash and ATMs

Few places truly require cash, but a few are awkward without it.

• Traditional market stalls and small snack shops
• Topping up T-money (convenience stores and subway station machines both take cash only)
• A last resort when a card terminal declines your foreign card

You can withdraw cash from bank or convenience-store ATMs. Not every ATM takes foreign cards, so look for a machine marked Global ATM or Foreign Card. Fees can apply on both sides, from the ATM and from your own card issuer.

Instant tax refunds

Foreign travelers can get back the value-added tax on goods bought in Korea. Shops showing TAX FREE or TAX REFUND at the entrance or the counter qualify. Cosmetics stores such as Olive Young, department stores and most shops on shopping streets are among them.

Conditions:

• A foreigner who has been in Korea for less than six months
• A purchase of ₩15,000 or more on a single receipt at one shop
• The goods must leave Korea within three months
• You must have your original passport. A photo or a copy is not accepted in most cases

Instant refunds at the shop

When you pay, hand over your passport and say "tax free", and you're charged the price with the tax already taken off. This is the easiest way.

• It works only when a single receipt is under ₩1,000,000
• Across one trip, instant refunds cover purchases up to ₩5,000,000 in total

Beyond those limits, the shop gives you a refund receipt and you claim at the airport when you leave.

Refunds at the airport

If you didn't get an instant refund, scan your passport and refund receipts at a tax refund kiosk at the airport on your day of departure. At Incheon Airport they are near the check-in counters in the departures hall. Customs may ask to see expensive items, so go to the kiosk before you check those items in.

Useful phrases

• 카드 돼요? (kadeu dwaeyo?): "do you take cards?"
• 원화로 해 주세요 (wonhwaro hae juseyo): when asked which currency, "in won, please"
• 이거 돼요? (igeo dwaeyo?): showing Alipay or another app, "does this work?"
• 택스 프리요 (taekseu peuriyo): handing over your passport at the till, "tax free"
• 해외 카드인데, 카운터에서 결제할 수 있을까요? (haeoe kadeu-inde, kaunteo-eseo gyeoljaehal su isseulkkayo?): when a machine declines your card, "it's a foreign card -- can I pay at the counter?"