Mastercard has announced the completion of South Korea's first live, authenticated agentic transaction, marking the latest deployment of its Agent Pay framework in Asia Pacific.
The transaction involved an AI agent booking and paying for a car service from Incheon International Airport to a hotel in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, through global mobility provider hoppa.
The AI agent, facilitated by CardInfoLink and connected to hoppa's platform, autonomously searched for available transportation, selected a vehicle, and completed the payment using Mastercard's agentic payments infrastructure. The transaction was completed end-to-end without manual cardholder involvement in the booking or payment process.
Agent Pay framework and regional expansion
The transaction was powered by Mastercard Agent Pay, a framework designed to enable secure, authenticated payments initiated by AI agents, ensuring interoperability between card issuers, acquirers, and merchants through compliance with industry standards. The framework provides cardholders and businesses with consistent, governed agent-powered payment experiences across partners and platforms.
The South Korea milestone follows Mastercard Agent Pay deployments in the US in 2025 and subsequent launches in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and India in 2026, reflecting an accelerating rollout of authenticated agentic commerce across the Asia Pacific region. Mastercard has indicated plans to expand AI-enabled commerce in South Korea by working with card issuers and digital partners, and to extend agent-driven payments across additional sectors.
Furthermore, as part of its broader Asia Pacific AI strategy, Mastercard is establishing a regional AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore and deepening partnerships with large language model providers and AI agent developers across the region.
Commenting on the news, Jae-Youl Yang, Vice President of Digital Payments at Mastercard Korea, said the transaction demonstrates how AI agents can safely and reliably conduct payments in a real-world commercial environment, and that Mastercard will continue working with financial institutions, digital partners, and merchants to build a trusted ecosystem for AI-driven transactions in Korea.
