Foreign Card on Seoul Subway 2026: Fees and How It Works
Bottom line: Since March 17, 2026, you can buy and top up a Climate Card short-term pass (1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days) or a single-journey ticket with a foreign-issued Visa or Mastercard credit/debit card at 440 new ticket machines in 273 stations across Seoul Subway Lines 1-8 — no cash needed. The same machines also take Kakao Pay and Naver Pay.
If you didn't know: Without this, you'd waste time hunting for a currency exchange booth, which cluster in a few neighborhoods like Myeongdong and Hongdae — a 10-minute-plus walk from most other stations. The one real cost is the fee: Seoul city says foreign-card payments carry an average 3.7% service charge, so loading 100,000 won costs an extra 3,700 won. And if you don't know the limits, trying to buy a 30-day Climate Card with a foreign card will simply get declined — that option isn't live yet.
Start date March 17, 2026 (Tue) · Where: 440 new machines across 273 stations on Lines 1-8 · Fee: average 3.7% · What you can buy: Climate Card short-term passes (1/2/3/5/7-day) and single-journey tickets (30-day pass not yet included) · Cards accepted: foreign-issued Visa/Mastercard credit or debit cards, Kakao Pay, Naver Pay · Inquiries: Seoul Dasan Call Center 120 (02-120).
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced this in a press release dated March 17, 2026. Hana Card Co. handles the foreign-card acquiring, working with T-money Co., NICE Information & Telecommunication, and Seoul Metro to build the payment and settlement system. The city ran promotion booths at Seoul Station, Hongik Univ. Station and Myeongdong Station ahead of the BTS comeback concert at Gwanghwamun Square on March 21, timed to reach foreign visitors. Only machines showing a "foreign card" sign support this — not every old-style machine does. The fee rate, start date and station count were checked on 2026-11-01 on the Seoul Metropolitan Government news portal (news.seoul.go.kr), on the transport-section press release "Climate Card and single-journey tickets now purchasable with foreign credit cards, no cash needed."
Journey stage: During the trip · Verified 2026-11-01
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