Seoul simplifies food delivery apps for international visitors

A promotional campaign poster advertising how international visitors can order food in Seoul using the Baemin delivery app. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government

For the millions of international tourists visiting Korea, few local experiences carry as much cultural charm as ordering crispy fried chicken or steaming "tteokbokki" (chewy rice cakes simmered in a sweet and spicy sauce) directly to a picnic blanket on the banks of the Han River.

For years, however, that local ritual remained frustratingly difficult for non-residents to experience, blocked by rigid digital requirements for domestic phone number verification and Korean-issued credit cards.

Now, municipal authorities and private tech firms are actively tearing down those long-standing administrative barriers.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that it had created a partnership with Woowa Brothers — operator of Korea’s dominant food delivery platform, Baedal Minjok (Baemin) — to render the nation’s famed food delivery ecosystem entirely accessible to international visitors.

Under the new agreement, the delivery giant has overhauled its application infrastructure to eliminate the requirement for a Korean mobile phone subscription during checkout. International travelers can now place food orders seamlessly using foreign-issued credit cards, Apple Pay and popular overseas digital wallets. To ensure smooth fulfillment, Seoul will support the tech upgrades by setting up multilingual field guides, directional signage and maps across designated delivery pickup zones throughout the metropolis.

The joint initiative marks a push by the city government to capitalize on the global popularity of "K-delivery" culture while stimulating the local nighttime tourism economy and boosting small neighborhood businesses.

"Ordering food at a riverside park is one of the top everyday cultural experiences foreign tourists want to try when they arrive in Seoul," said Cho Sung-ho, head of Seoul’s Tourism and Sports Bureau. "This public-private partnership breaks down a persistent friction point, allowing visitors to effortlessly enjoy local culinary culture while driving tourist spending directly to nearby restaurants."

The city will officially inaugurate the collaboration with a month-long promotional campaign beginning Aug. 1, in tandem with "2026 Han River Night+Camping" — an all-night summer festival taking place across Yeouido and Ttukseom Han River Parks. Multilingual banners and digital guides will direct tourists to designated pickup locations and walk them step-by-step through ordering and receiving their food. Municipal planners intend to analyze user feedback throughout August to refine app usability further, treating the project as a scalable blueprint for future initiatives aimed at eliminating digital travel barriers.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.