Traditional Korean temple roof with intricate multicolored patterns against a clear blue sky.
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Payment methods in South Korea

From its Oscar-winning films, stadium-filling boybands, right through to the emerging popularity of kimchi, South Korea has its spotlight. But ask anyone in the know, and they’ll tell you that the region has been a hub for culture, technology, manufacturing, and yes, kimchi, for a very long time.

South Korea is one of the world’s largest ecommerce markets with retail ecommerce volume set to grow to US$90.5 billion by 2024, up from US$41.9 billion in 2017. As the home of some of the world’s largest digital goods companies, digital services consumption is high. Card penetration in South Korea equates to a massive 6.7 cards per person, making up 70% of all payments. Most are locally issued single-branded and dual-branded with international schemes like Visa and MasterCard. Besides cards, both online banking and ewallets are popular for ecommerce, with KakaoPay one such method.

Population

51,000,000

South Korean won

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