How to spot a machine that will take your card
Korea's largest cash-machine operator, NICE Infra (NICE인프라), alone runs 32,000 machines, most of them inside CU and similar chains — and the great majority of machines in the country speak only to Korean bank accounts. A machine can be new, bright and two metres away and still be wired to the domestic network only.
The signal is printed on the machine. Look for the English words Global ATM — sometimes Global Service or International — with the scheme marks: Visa, PLUS, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, UnionPay, JCB. On screen it will offer a Foreign Card option — 해외카드 on a Korean screen — and an English mode. If the screen only ever shows Korean and only ever asks for a Korean bank's name, walk away rather than insert your card: use a machine that clearly supports your card instead.
By chain, the usual pattern is that CU machines are NICE Infra's, 7-Eleven machines are Lotte ATM (롯데ATM)'s, and GS25 carries a mix, mostly marked Global ATM. Use that to decide where to look first; the sticker on the machine in front of you is what decides.
Where they are
Incheon Airport is the easiest place in the country for your first cash. The airport's facility list shows the shared machines at Terminal 1 running 24 hours, and two exchange desks with them — Kookmin's on Floor 1 inside the duty-free area near Gate B, Woori's on Floor 3 near Gate 4. Hana's exchange desks run 06:00–22:00, and the actual bank branches (Kookmin on B1 west, Woori on B1 east, Hana on Floor 2) keep office hours, 09:00–16:00. Kookmin's own airport map has the same shape: most of its machines on Floor 3 near the M, F and H check-in counters, 06:00–22:00. For an overnight arrival, check both machine access and staffed counter hours.
In the city, availability beats brand. Bank lobbies — the 24-hour ("365 코너") self-service rooms — often offer a wide range of banking services and usually lower fees, but not all of their doors are really 24-hour. Some convenience stores remain open overnight, so a CU or GS25 machine marked Global ATM is the right answer at 23:00 even though it costs more.
What it costs
Check the fee shown for your particular withdrawal. Some published bank fee tables describe domestic-card transactions rather than overseas cards: Kookmin's fee table, Hana's self-service guide and Woori's do not establish the charge for every overseas card. The fee appears on the screen before you confirm, and what travellers and card issuers such as Wise report is:
| Where | Korean-side fee per withdrawal | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Bank lobby machine (KB, Shinhan, Woori, Hana) | about ₩2,000–₩3,500 | Long, not always 24h |
| Convenience-store machine (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven) | about ₩3,000–₩3,600 | Check the branch’s access hours |
| Airport arrivals hall | about ₩3,000–₩3,600 | Check the terminal and machine location |
Your own bank's overseas fee and its exchange margin come on top, which is why the arithmetic favours fewer, larger withdrawals: ₩3,600 is 3.6% of a ₩100,000 withdrawal and 0.36% of ₩1,000,000. Per-withdrawal ceilings vary by machine and by your own daily limit, usually somewhere between ₩100,000 and ₩1,000,000, paid out in ₩10,000 and ₩50,000 notes.
The two screens that catch people out
The currency screen. Near the end, a Global ATM may offer to complete the withdrawal in your home currency at a rate it shows you. Decline and take won. Visa's rules require the machine to show both amounts with the rate and fees and to let you choose — "providers must not choose on your behalf" — and Visa's advice if the screen is unclear is to decline and tell your issuer. Declining the optional conversion does not by itself mean you must cancel the withdrawal; follow the screen’s instructions. “Pay in Korean won or my own currency?” shows the same screen at a shop till.
The PIN screen. Use the PIN supplied by your bank. Do not shorten it or keep guessing if the machine rejects it: Kookmin Card tells its own customers that three wrong entries at an overseas machine suspend it until the next day and five in total deactivate it, but those limits do not establish your own issuer’s policy. Stop if you are unsure and contact your bank.
