International travelers visiting South Korea will have access to a substantially larger QR payment network following an expansion by GLN International (GLN), a Hana Bank subsidiary. The company has integrated with Seoul Pay through a partnership with payment infrastructure provider Coocon, adding approximately 500,000 Merchant Presented Mode QR merchants to its network.
The expansion takes GLN’s reported Korean QR merchant coverage from roughly 1 million to 1.5 million locations. For overseas visitors, the development means more opportunities to pay directly from participating banking and fintech apps without exchanging cash or carrying a physical payment card.
The move also highlights a broader shift in travel payments: QR interoperability is becoming an important part of the infrastructure connecting international consumers with local merchants.
Korea’s QR payment market is becoming more interoperable
QR payments have moved well beyond their origins as an alternative checkout method.
For international travelers, they can provide a bridge between domestic payment systems that would otherwise be difficult to access. Instead of obtaining a local card or carrying significant amounts of cash, visitors can use a compatible financial app from their home market to initiate a payment through a standardized QR infrastructure.
GLN is expanding that proposition in South Korea.
Beginning August 3, the company gained access to approximately 500,000 Merchant Presented Mode, or MPM, QR merchants through Coocon, the operator of Seoul Pay. Combined with approximately 1 million Customer Presented Mode, or CPM, QR merchants previously established through Hana Card and other payment partners, GLN says its Korean network now reaches approximately 1.5 million merchants.
The distinction between MPM and CPM matters.
With MPM payments, the merchant displays the QR code and the customer scans it. With CPM payments, the customer presents a QR code that the merchant scans. Supporting both models allows payment infrastructure to connect different merchant environments and transaction workflows.
Seoul Pay adds scale in the capital
Seoul Pay was introduced as a QR-based payment service intended in part to reduce payment-processing costs for small businesses.
Its open-payment structure allows multiple domestic and international payment services to operate through a standardized QR code. That makes the network particularly relevant to cross-border payments, where interoperability can be more important than the individual payment app used by a traveler.
For GLN, access to Seoul Pay expands acceptance in Seoul while complementing its existing network across tourist destinations such as Busan and Jeju.
That matters as international visitor spending becomes more geographically distributed.
Myeong-dong remains an important destination for overseas tourists, but GLN says QR payment activity is also increasing in areas such as Seongsu. The company identifies retailers including Musinsa, Daelim Warehouse, Blue Elephant, NyuNyu, rom&nd and Ready Young Pharmacy among locations where usage has grown.
The expansion also reaches more conventional tourist spending categories, including department stores, duty-free retailers, convenience stores, restaurants, cafés and public transportation.
Cross-border payments are moving beyond currency exchange
One of the main attractions of QR-based cross-border payments is the ability to keep the consumer’s existing banking relationship intact.
A traveler does not necessarily need to open a Korean payment account simply to make everyday purchases. Instead, an international payment provider can connect the visitor’s existing financial app to a participating Korean merchant network.
That creates a more seamless experience for consumers, while giving local businesses another way to accept international customers.
GLN says its transaction data shows the scale of this shift. During the first half of 2026, inbound international travelers’ QR payment transaction volume and transaction value on its network each increased by approximately 1,000% compared with the second half of 2025.
Those figures are company-reported and cover GLN’s own network rather than the entire Korean QR payment market.
The growth nevertheless points to a potentially important behavioral change as international tourism and mobile payments increasingly intersect.
Spending is spreading beyond traditional tourist districts
The expansion of QR acceptance is also arriving as international visitors diversify where they spend.
GLN says QR payment activity has increased at Korean beauty retailers, fashion businesses, pharmacies and other merchants in Seoul’s emerging commercial areas. Medical tourism is another growth category, with increased usage reported at dermatology clinics, plastic-surgery clinics and pharmacies in Busan and Jeju.
That creates an interesting feedback loop for local commerce.
A merchant does not need to build a dedicated payment relationship with every overseas wallet provider if an interoperable QR infrastructure can connect multiple payment systems through a common acceptance layer.
For smaller businesses, that could lower the technical barrier to serving international customers.
The payment network is expanding in both directions
GLN’s strategy is not limited to inbound tourism.
The company also provides Korean travelers with QR payments and QR cash withdrawals across 15 countries, including Vietnam, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Japan and Indonesia.
GLN says its broader international network now covers more than 230 million QR merchants.
That scale reflects the larger competition emerging across Asian payment infrastructure.
Companies including Alipay+, WeChat Pay, Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and regional wallet operators are building or connecting cross-border acceptance networks. Banks and fintech platforms are increasingly acting as interoperability layers between domestic payment systems rather than simply issuing payment products themselves.
The commercial opportunity is significant because international travel creates a natural use case for cross-border payments: consumers want the familiarity of their existing financial applications, while merchants want a simple method for accepting overseas customers.
GLN plans wider country coverage
GLN currently supports inbound QR payments for travelers from Taiwan and says it plans to extend the service later in 2026 to customers from the United States, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam and Mongolia.
By 2027, the company aims to support travelers from more than 10 countries while continuing to expand acceptance in major destinations such as Busan and Jeju.
The next challenge will be less about simply adding QR codes and more about creating reliable interoperability across payment networks, currencies, compliance systems and merchant acquiring infrastructure.
For financial institutions and fintech companies, cross-border QR payments demonstrate how payment infrastructure is evolving toward network-to-network connectivity.
For travelers, the result is much simpler: fewer payment barriers between the wallet already on their phone and the merchant they want to visit.
Market Landscape
Cross-border QR payments are becoming an important component of Asia’s digital-payment infrastructure as countries develop domestic QR standards while payment networks seek interoperability.
The model is attractive because QR acceptance can be deployed relatively efficiently, particularly among small and medium-sized merchants. It can also reduce the need for international visitors to obtain local payment instruments.
The market remains fragmented, however. Domestic QR schemes, mobile wallets, card networks, banks and fintech companies operate across different regulatory and technical environments.
Interoperability is therefore the central competitive issue.
GLN’s strategy combines domestic Korean merchant aggregation with connections to international payment applications. Its expansion through Seoul Pay illustrates how local payment infrastructure can become part of a broader cross-border network.
Top Insights
- GLN has expanded its Korean QR acceptance network to about 1.5 million merchants, giving international travelers broader access through existing banking and fintech applications.
- The Seoul Pay integration adds roughly 500,000 MPM merchants, extending QR acceptance across Seoul while complementing GLN’s nationwide CPM network.
- GLN reports approximately 1,000% growth in inbound QR transactions, signaling stronger adoption of mobile cross-border payments among international visitors to Korea.
- Tourist spending is spreading beyond traditional districts, with growing QR usage in Seongsu, Busan and Jeju across retail, dining, beauty and medical services.
- GLN plans broader international coverage, targeting travelers from more than 10 countries by 2027 while expanding acceptance across Korea’s major tourism markets.
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