Where it works, and where it does not
| Place | Apple Pay? |
|---|---|
| GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, Emart24 | Yes |
| Starbucks | Check the current till or app payment options |
| Olive Young (Korea's dominant health-and-beauty chain), in the shops | Yes, nationwide since 21 February 2024 (not the online store) |
| Lotte, Hyundai and Shinsegae department stores | Check the payment mark at your particular till |
| Baemin, the delivery app | Yes with a foreign card, since 2 June 2026 |
| Small restaurants, family-run shops, traditional markets, street stalls, older taxis | Mostly no |
Both the terminal and your card must support the payment
Apple Pay needs a compatible contactless reader. Keep a physical card for terminals that require an inserted card. Where a reader does exist, a foreign card can still fail, because some Korean payment gateways route the transaction through domestic-only rails that never reach Visa or Mastercard. Acceptance varies by merchant, terminal and card network, including within a chain.
The rule you will read everywhere — "only Hyundai Card supports Apple Pay in Korea" — describes local card enrolment, which is a separate question from using a foreign card already in Wallet. Apple Pay launched in Korea on 21 March 2023 with Hyundai Card as the only issuer able to put a Korean card into Wallet, and as of January 2026 Shinhan and KB Kookmin still had not followed. That governs Korean cards. Your own Visa, Mastercard or Amex, added to Wallet at home, runs on the global contactless rails and may work where the merchant and bank support that network. Using it does not require you to obtain a Hyundai Card.
The subway gate is a different thing
Holding an iPhone to a subway gate is not Apple Pay in the shop sense. It is a Tmoney card inside Apple Wallet — a separate card with its own balance, available since 21 July 2025 and tapped with Express Mode, no Face ID. Its balance can be loaded in the Mobile Tmoney app with a foreign Mastercard, Amex or UnionPay in the current app, and JCB listed since the July 2026 release — never Visa, so far. “Can I add a Tmoney transit card to my iPhone?” has the setup. Tapping your ordinary bank card on a gate, with no Tmoney at all, is a Seoul project scheduled for 2027 on Lines 1–8 and later elsewhere — not something to plan on this trip.
Will it work at…?
| Situation | Works? |
|---|---|
| Starbucks, a convenience store, Olive Young, a department store | Check the particular till and your card’s acceptance |
| A small restaurant, a market stall, an older taxi | Mostly not — pay with the physical card or cash |
| A subway or bus gate, with Tmoney in Apple Wallet | Yes, since July 2025 |
| A subway gate, tapping your bare foreign card | No — 2027 at the earliest |
| Loading Wallet Tmoney with a foreign Mastercard, Amex, UnionPay or JCB | Yes |
| Loading Wallet Tmoney with a foreign Visa | No |
| Adding a new Korean card to Wallet | Hyundai Card only |
