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Shopping from online Korean retailers gets easier

May 21, 2014

Shopping from online Korean retailers just became a little easier.

Korea’s Federal Services Commission and the Financial Security Service announced Monday that the certificate verification required for purchases of more than 30 won, or $300, will no longer be a requirement.

The decision will increase consumers’ convenience and help boost electronic commerce in Korea, they said.

The system has required the installation of a certificate verification system called ActiveX, a complication which has limited many overseas shoppers from purchasing from Korean online retailers.

In April, President Park Geun-hye ordered the discontinuation of the certificate verification during a discussion at the Blue House.

“The discomfort that overseas Koreans and foreign consumers face because of the certificate verification system will improve with this change,” a commission representative said.

Although the requirement is being discontinued, the ActiveX certificate verification system itself is still in place, as it is a safer method of conducting e-commerce than direct fund transfers, which gives little time for consumers to cancel orders, they said.