Apple Pay appears set to launch in South Korea imminently

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Apple Pay is coming to the country sooner than you thought.

Apple Pay Webpage
Apple Pay Webpage (Image credit: Apple)

If you live in South Korea and have been bummed that you haven't gotten to use Apple Pay on your iPhone or Apple Watch, that might all change soon.

Spotted by Tommy Boi on Twitter, an advertisement in what appears to be a taxi indicates that the digital payments platform run by Apple may launch in the country as soon as November 30.

The marketing message is specifically for the Hyundai Card, a credit card that is issued by the Hyundai Motor Group. The message on the advertising message simply says "Apple Pay, November 30."

Will all cards in the country support Apple Pay?

Apple has not yet officially announced or rolled out Apple Pay support in South Korea, so the Hyundai Motor Group could be jumping the gun ahead of the company a bit here. However, considering how large a company like Hyundai is, it's unlikely that they'd get such an important launch date wrong.

If Hyundai Card's advertising is correct, it will mean that Apple is officially bringing Apple Pay support to the country for the first time. So, what does that mean for your bank's debit and credit cards? That really depends on your bank or credit card company and if they choose to add support for Apple Pay as well.

The advertisement in the taxi is specifically for the Hyundai Card and not from Apple itself so, theoretically, Hyundai Card might be the only card to support the digital payments platform when the service officially launches tomorrow.

Knowing Apple and its quest for scale, however, that is unlikely. The company is more likely to have a number of banks and credit card partners ready to go when the service is turned on. You'll need to check with your own card issuer to see if support begins on November 30 or if they plan to add support soon.

Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.