Apple Pay really will be coming to Korea

Apple confirmed Wednesday that Apple Pay will launch in Korea.

“Apple will introduce Apple Pay in Korea,” the tech company said in an e-mail announcement sent to the press. “We will share more details later.”

Hyundai Card also released a statement the same day, saying, “We look forward to collaborating with Apple to introduce Apple Pay to Korea.”

The specific date has not been declared, though Korean local media reported that it may be introduced as early as the beginning of March.

The announcements came five days after the Financial Services Commission (FSC) gave Apple Pay the green light.

There were a few reports made last year about the release, but Wednesday’s announcement was the first time Apple confirmed it.

Apple Pay's impending debut in Korea comes nearly a decade after Apple first introduced the payment system in 2014.

The payment system was not available in Korea as Apple Pay is based on near-field communication (NFC) technology, unlike other mobile payment services like Samsung Electronics’ Samsung Pay, which use magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology or integrated circuit (IC) technology.

Apple Pay is the world’s No. 2 payment service, right after Visa, with over 500 million users from some 70 countries.

Some 11.32 million Koreans use iPhones as of September, around 35 percent of the country's total smartphone users.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]