How people pay in South Korea in 2026
South Korea is a card country that went mobile. According to Bank of Korea data reported by The Asia Business Daily, payment cards were used for 3.6 trillion won a day on average in 2025, up 4.7%, and payments made without a physical card overtook plastic, at 1.7 trillion won a day against 1.4 trillion. Most of that shift runs through simple payment apps. In the first half of 2026 they processed 38.22 million transactions worth 1.23 trillion won a day, a record since the Bank of Korea started tracking them in 2016.
Big tech wallets lead. Electronic financial companies such as Naver Pay, Kakao Pay and Toss took 55.4% of simple payment value, ahead of phone makers, mainly Samsung, at 23.3% and banks and card companies at 21.2%. Online, card payments go through payment gateways next to bank transfers and virtual accounts, and credit card installments called halbu are part of everyday checkout. Online shopping reached 272.0 trillion won in 2025, according to the National Data Office. Cash is now a minority payment, used mostly by older consumers.
- 3.6 trillion won spent per day on payment cards in 2025 (Bank of Korea via The Asia Business Daily)
- 1.23 trillion won in simple payments per day in H1 2026 (Bank of Korea via Herald Business)
- 272.0 trillion won in online shopping transactions in 2025 (National Data Office via JKN)
- 15.9% of payments made in cash in 2024 (Bank of Korea survey via Aju News)
Payment by card in South Korea
Credit cards dominate Korean spending. In 2025, credit cards accounted for 2.859 trillion won of the 3.6 trillion won spent on payment cards each day, against 725 billion won for check and debit cards, according to Bank of Korea figures reported by The Asia Business Daily. In the 2024 Bank of Korea payment survey, credit cards made up 46.2% of transactions, check cards 16.4% and mobile cards 12.9%.
The market is local. Eight domestic issuers share it, and the top three are almost level: Shinhan held 20.40% of personal credit card purchases in 2025, Samsung Card 19.58% and Hyundai Card 19.26%, out of 724.25 trillion won in total. Domestic cards are processed on local networks through VAN operators in stores and payment gateways online, and international Visa or Mastercard branding matters mostly for cross-border use. Phones are now the main form factor: 51.9% of mobile-type card payments in 2025 went through simple payment apps that store the card. Our guide on who is who in payments explains the roles of issuers, gateways and processors.
Card schemes in South Korea
Shinhan Card
Domestic card issuer
The largest Korean card issuer by personal credit card purchases, part of Shinhan Financial Group, issuing credit and check cards used in stores, online and through wallets.
20.40% share of personal credit card purchases in 2025, CEO Score Daily
Samsung Card
Domestic card issuer
Samsung group card company, the fastest growing of the big three in 2025 and the top earner on card installments.
19.58% share of personal credit card purchases in 2025, up 0.88 points, CEO Score Daily
Hyundai Card
Domestic card issuer
Card company of the Hyundai group and the only Korean issuer whose cards can be added to Apple Pay, which makes it the default card for many iPhone users.
19.26% share of personal credit card purchases in 2025, CEO Score Daily
KB Kookmin Card
Domestic card issuer
Card arm of KB Financial Group, with a large base of check cards linked to KB Kookmin Bank accounts and credit cards for everyday spending.
BC Card
Domestic card network
A card company and processing network used by many partner banks for their own branded credit and check cards, alongside its own BC-branded products.
Check cards
Debit card
Debit cards drawn directly on a bank account, popular with young people and foreign residents who cannot yet get a credit card.
2.95 billion check card approvals in Q3 2025, up 5.6%, Financial News
Payment by cash in South Korea
Cash has become a minority payment. In the Bank of Korea survey on payment instruments, cash made up 15.9% of transactions in 2024, behind credit cards, check cards and mobile cards. Its use depends on age. Adults in their 20s and 30s prefer mobile cards, while people aged 60 and over still prefer cash, and only 53.8% of them had used a mobile financial service in the past month.
Cash is tightly linked to the tax system. Buyers can ask for a cash receipt, which records the payment with the National Tax Service, and businesses in designated sectors must issue one for cash payments of 100,000 won or more even when the customer does not ask. Payment gateways issue cash receipts automatically for account transfers. Online, cash-funded options are mostly prepaid gift certificates such as Culture Land. This market shrank after the collapse of Happy Money in 2024, when its certificates lost their value after the TMON and WeMakePrice crisis. For context on this shift, read our article on the transition from cash to digital payments.
Cash payment methods in South Korea
Cash
Banknotes and coins
Won banknotes and coins remain accepted in stores and traditional markets, but they now cover a small share of payments, mostly by older consumers.
15.9% share of transactions paid in cash in 2024, Bank of Korea survey via Aju News
Cash receipts
Tax receipt
A cash receipt (hyeongeum yeongsujeung) registers a cash or transfer payment with the National Tax Service under the buyer's phone number, so it counts for year-end tax deductions.
Culture Land gift certificates
Prepaid voucher
Prepaid culture gift certificates and Culture Cash balances that shoppers use to pay for digital content, games and entertainment; gateways such as Toss Payments accept them online.
Payment by bank transfer in South Korea
Account payments run on shared rails built by the banks and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC). In 2025 the KFTC electronic financial shared network carried 96.4 trillion won a day in transfers, 91.6% of small-value account transfers, and the open banking network, which lets fintech apps move money from any bank account, handled 2.1 trillion won a day. Transfers settle in real time, so Korea already lives with the instant payment standard that Europe is now adopting. Mobile banking accounted for 25.43 million transactions a day.
At online checkout, transfers take three forms. Real-time account transfer debits the shopper's account during checkout. Virtual accounts (gasang gyejwa) give each order a one-time account number that the shopper pays from internet banking or an ATM, a favorite for large tickets and buyers without cards. Gateways also offer one-click transfers, such as Toss Payments Quick Account Transfer, which register an account once and confirm with a password. Our guide to account-to-account payments explains why these rails cost merchants less than cards. Our real-time payments explorer compares instant payment systems country by country.
Bank transfer methods in South Korea
Real-time account transfer
Online bank transfer
The shopper selects a bank at checkout and authorizes an immediate debit from the account; gateways issue the cash receipt and offer escrow on these payments.
Virtual accounts
Bank transfer reference
A unique account number generated for each order or customer, paid by internet banking, phone banking or ATM. Deposits from abroad cannot be matched, as Toss Payments warns merchants.
Toss Payments Quick Account Transfer
Pay by bank
A one-click account payment from Toss Payments: shoppers register an account once, then pay with a password, without security software or app switching.
KFTC open banking
Open banking rail
The shared open banking platform run by KFTC lets licensed fintechs and banks initiate transfers and check balances on accounts at any participating bank.
2.1 trillion won in daily open banking transfers in 2025, up 3.8%, Bank of Korea via The Asia Business Daily
Payment by installment and BNPL in South Korea
In South Korea, the main form of installment payment is built into credit cards. At checkout, shoppers choose to pay in full or in two to twelve monthly installments, called halbu. The seven full-service card companies recorded 148.3 trillion won in installment purchases by individual customers in 2025, up 3.5%, and earned 3.6 trillion won in installment fees. Interest-free installments are shrinking as funding costs rise. Card issuers offered up to 12 months free at the end of 2022, but by 2026 even six-month interest-free plans were hard to find, and installment fee rates range from about 8.8% to 19.9%.
Fintech pay-later is small and capped. The Financial Services Commission let Naver Pay keep its postpaid service, which covers a shortfall when paying with Naver Pay, with a limit of 300,000 won per person per month, and Kakao Pay and Toss benefit from the same rules. Mobile carrier billing is another deferred payment: purchases of up to 1,000,000 won are added to the next phone bill.
Installment and BNPL providers in South Korea
Card installments (halbu)
Card installment
Shoppers split a credit card purchase into monthly payments at checkout, online or in store, with the term chosen in the payment window and interest charged by the card issuer.
148.3 trillion won installment purchases at seven card companies in 2025, CEO Score Daily
Interest-free installments
Card installment promotion
Merchant and issuer promotions that waive installment interest for set months and merchant categories; terms have shortened since 2023 as card companies cut costs.
Naver Pay Pay Later
Fintech BNPL
Naver Pay's small postpaid option for purchases paid with Naver Pay, approved by the FSC to continue under the amended Electronic Financial Transactions Act, with a 300,000 won monthly limit.
Danal mobile carrier billing
Carrier billing
Danal is a major carrier billing provider. Adults verify with their phone number and the purchase is added to next month's mobile bill, a common option for digital goods and games, with limits set by each carrier.
Payment by digital wallet and X-Pay in South Korea
Korea has one of the most crowded X-Pay markets in the world. Simple payments reached 1.23 trillion won a day in the first half of 2026, up 16.8%. Internet platforms lead: Kakao Pay processed 185.6 trillion won in total payment volume across its services in 2025, and Naver Pay handled 23.0 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2025, 12.8 trillion of it outside Naver's own platforms. Toss counted about 25 million monthly active users in the second quarter of 2025.
In stores, Samsung Wallet is the default on Galaxy phones because its MST technology works on old magnetic stripe terminals. It counted 18.66 million Korean users in 2025. Apple Pay arrived later and still works only with Hyundai Card in October 2026. QR codes and face pay complete the picture, from the public Zero Pay network for small merchants to Toss Pay's face payment terminals. Read more in our article on QR code payments in Asia.
Digital wallets and X-Pay in South Korea
Naver Pay
Platform wallet
The payment service of Korea's largest portal, used across Naver Shopping and a growing number of external merchants, and now offline through its Npay Connect terminal.
23.0 trillion won total payment volume in Q4 2025, up 19.0%, NAVER earnings
Kakao Pay
Platform wallet
The payment and finance app built into KakaoTalk, used for online checkout, QR and offline payments, money transfers and overseas payments.
185.6 trillion won total payment volume in 2025, up 11%, DigitalToday
Samsung Wallet
Mobile wallet
Samsung's wallet, formerly Samsung Pay, pays with stored cards by MST or NFC at almost any terminal and also holds transit cards and mobile ID.
88.6 trillion won paid with Samsung Wallet in Korea in 2024, Samsung Newsroom
Toss Pay
Fintech wallet
The payment function of the Toss super app, linked to bank accounts and cards, accepted online and in stores through QR, barcode and face pay.
25 million monthly active users of the Toss app in Q2 2025, Toss
PAYCO
Fintech wallet
NHN's payment app, accepted online and offline and strong in corporate meal and welfare payments.
600,000 online and offline PAYCO merchants in February 2026, Bizwatch
Apple Pay
Mobile wallet
Apple's wallet works in Korea only with Hyundai Card credit and check cards, and has carried prepaid T-money transit cards since July 2025, according to Yellow IT.
Zero Pay
Public QR payment
A QR payment network run by the Korea Simple Payment Promotion Foundation for small merchants, which also distributes local gift certificates and policy vouchers.
Payments in South Korea: FAQ
What is the most popular payment method in South Korea?
Credit cards. They made up 46.2% of transactions in the 2024 Bank of Korea payment survey, and Koreans spent 2.859 trillion won a day on credit cards in 2025. More and more of these cards are used through apps such as Samsung Wallet, Naver Pay and Kakao Pay rather than as plastic.
Do people in South Korea still use cash?
Rarely. Cash covered 15.9% of transactions in 2024, and its main users are people aged 60 and over. When customers do pay cash, merchants in designated sectors must issue a cash receipt for amounts of 100,000 won or more.
What is halbu?
Halbu is the installment option built into Korean credit cards. Shoppers choose a number of months at checkout and the card issuer spreads the payment. Card companies recorded 148.3 trillion won in installment purchases in 2025, while interest-free periods have become shorter.
Can foreigners pay with Korean wallets?
Often only after setup. Toss and Kakao Pay register domestic cards only, and identity checks need a Korean phone number in the user's own name, as Toss explains. Foreign cards may work for payment but often fail at identity verification, so cross-border merchants should keep international card acceptance.
Accept local payments in South Korea with NORBr
In South Korea, online merchants go through licensed PG companies such as Toss Payments, KG Inicis, NHN KCP and NICEPAY, which aggregate card issuers, bank transfers and wallets. Check card issuer and installment coverage, wallet integrations and settlement in won.
With NORBr, you can connect any acquirer, PSP or local provider that offers domestic credit cards with installments, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, Toss Pay, Samsung Wallet and real-time account transfers. Some are already in our connector catalog; Mapper™ gets the others live in days, and Smart Checkout shows each shopper the right methods. Explore the other #PayWorldTour guides.
Local payment providers in South Korea
Toss Payments
Payment gateway
Viva Republica's PG company, built on the payment gateway business it acquired from LG U+, serving Korean online merchants and platforms with a developer-friendly integration.
Covers: Cards, Bank transfer, Virtual accounts, Carrier billing, Toss Pay, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, PAYCO, Samsung Wallet
KG Inicis
Payment gateway
Long-established Korean PG company of the KG Group, used by many large online shops, platforms and public services to accept domestic cards, transfers and wallets.
Covers: Cards, Bank transfer, Virtual accounts, Carrier billing, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, PAYCO, Samsung Wallet
NHN KCP
Payment gateway
NHN group payment company operating both an online PG business and offline card processing, serving e-commerce, travel and digital content merchants in Korea.
Covers: Cards, Bank transfer, Virtual accounts, Carrier billing, PAYCO, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay
NICEPAY
Payment gateway
PG service of NICE Information & Telecommunication, part of the NICE Group, offering Korean merchants online card, transfer and wallet acceptance alongside the group's card processing network.
Covers: Cards, Bank transfer, Virtual accounts, Carrier billing, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay
