KB News Desk
Dedicated stores and customer forums help foreign residents overcome registration and ID-verification hurdles
As South Korea’s foreign resident population continues to grow, KT Corp. is expanding support for overseas customers through multilingual AI services and dedicated stores designed to make telecom services more accessible.
The telecom carrier held its fourth Customer Listening Forum on Wednesday in Seoul, inviting 14 foreign residents and naturalized citizens from 10 countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia, the Philippines and Mongolia, to gather feedback on challenges they face while using telecom services in Korea.
The forum is part of KT’s Customer Protection 365TF initiative, through which company executives meet directly with customers to identify service challenges and develop improvements. Previous sessions were held with young customers in April, senior customers in May and residents in remote rural areas in June.
During the session, participants shared challenges they face when using telecom services in Korea, including mobile plan subscriptions, customer center consultations and visits to telecom stores.
A Russian customer in her 30s raised concerns over difficulties foreign residents face during registration and identity verification processes.
“Russian names are often longer when written in Korean, which makes the membership registration process difficult. There are also cases where entering personal information and completing identity verification becomes challenging because pronunciation and spelling do not easily match Korean formats,” she said.
A Filipino customer in her 40s called for greater support for foreign customers facing language barriers.
“Because of language limitations, I prefer visiting a store rather than using phone consultations. Opening more stores that specialize in serving foreign customers would make it easier for us to receive the support we need,” she said.
To better serve foreign customers, KT currently operates around 180 dedicated stores nationwide staffed with consultants who assist overseas residents with telecom services.
Demand for these stores has also continued to increase. The proportion of foreign customer subscriptions completed through KT’s specialized stores rose from 23 percent in January 2024 to 32 percent in February 2026.
KT has also introduced a multilingual artificial intelligence consultant at its offline stores, becoming the first telecom operator in Korea to deploy the service. The AI-based assistant supports more than 20 languages, including English, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese, helping foreign customers communicate more easily with store employees.
KT said feedback collected through the forum will be reviewed by relevant departments and reflected in future service improvements.
“Meeting directly with customers from countries that represent a significant portion of KT’s foreign customer base, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia and the Philippines, was a meaningful opportunity to hear diverse perspectives,” said Park Hyun-jin, head of KT’s customer business division.
“We will continue strengthening our efforts so that all customers, including foreign residents, can access telecom services more conveniently.”
