Beating the 010 verification wall
Korea's apps love to demand a local 010 number and Korean ID. Here's how to book, ride, eat, and buy tickets without getting stuck.
Workarounds by need
Use Catchtable Global — sign up with Google/Apple, books with a foreign card, English/CN/JP, ~1,500 English-ready restaurants. Bypasses the 010 wall most travelers hit on Naver.
Kakao T can be hard to verify; UT (Uber+TADA) and street hailing with a Korean address card work without it.
Taxi apps →Some apps allow guest orders or foreign-card paths; Shuttle and Coupang Eats are more foreigner-friendly than 배민.
Delivery apps →Interpark Global and proxy routes avoid the 본인인증 wall on domestic ticketing.
K-pop ticketing →A prepaid SIM with your passport gives you a 010 number that clears most verifications. Switch to postpaid after ARC.
SIM / eSIM →Why this happens
Many Korean services tie sign-up to 본인인증 (identity verification) through a Korean mobile carrier. Without a 010 number the SMS step fails. The fixes above either use foreigner-facing platforms that skip it, or get you a real number.