At long last, people in South Korea can now use Apple Pay, as the Cupertino-based tech giant's mobile payment service goes live in the country ahead of the release of iOS 16.4. Those with an iPhone or Apple Watch can use their device to make a contactless payment, although Apple Pay in South Korea does not appear to support payments from all card companies at this moment.
Apple Pay Launches in South Korea, Ahead of iOS 16.4 Public Release
Twitter user aaronp613, an AppleDB contributor and dataminer, revealed in his tweet that Apple Pay is now enabled in South Korea. This is also confirmed by the official South Korean website of Apple, stating that users based in the country can now "add Apple Pay-enabled Visa, MasterCard, and domestic-only credit and debit cards."
However, only the ones issued by Hyundai Card are currently supported by Apple Pay. It is noted that "domestic-only cards can only be added in the card issuer's app." Furthermore, the list of card issuers in South Korea supporting Apple Pay transactions will be updated once another card company is added.
It was rumored that Apple struck a deal with Hyundai Card for a one-year Apple Pay exclusive deal. Although, with Apple's website mentioning the possible updating of the list of supported card companies, it appears that other card issuers are free to partner with Apple Pay in the near future.
South Korean Local Regulator Permits Apple Pay to Operate in the Country
9to5Mac shared in February that Apple Pay would finally arrive in South Korea, along with the release of iOS 16.4. South Korea's local regulator, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), has given the go-signal for Apple Pay to launch in the country following the latter's compliance with the terms and conditions set by FSS.
Hence, it was expected that Apple Pay would be introduced in South Korea just in time for the public release of iOS 16.4. This is supported by the code seen from the second beta of iOS 16.4, which shows that the upcoming iOS version will allow users to input their credit and debit card details for Apple Pay.
However, Apple Pay has beat everyone's expectations as it arrived in the country sooner than thought. Apple's contactless payment service was first expected to become available in the spring, which is around the same time as the anticipated public release of iOS 16.4.
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Apple has been trying to bring Apple Pay service to South Korea since 2017. However, there were issues surrounding Apple back then, whether the Big Tech could register as an electronic financial business operator as FSS found possible violations in the regulations and laws that are implemented in the country.
There were reports that Apple Pay would finally go live in South Korea as early as November last year, but Apple's issues with FSS were only settled last February.
South Korea is the latest addition to the list of countries that support Apple Pay. Last year, Apple Pay went live in Argentina, Armenia, Malaysia, Moldova, Peru and Qatar. In 2023, Apple is expected to add more countries to the list.
People can make transactions in physical and online stores without using a credit or debit card. Using the NFC reader in their iPhone and Apple Watch, the transaction can be verified by just tapping their device.
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