Quick tip: Here's a neat tip from Reddit that I was unaware of that could make your shopping trips in Korea easier.
I used to sometimes hesitate going through the self-checkout at supermarkets when purchasing alcohol, because I never wanted to hold people up whilst the shop assistant came over to confirm my age on the touch screen after the alarm goes off (even if they have a habit of appearing out of nowhere in the blink of an eye at my local place).
I don't know if it's the same at other supermarkets, but at Lotte there is an option to verify via the PASS app, and if you have the digital copy of your Korean driving license stored in the app, you can just scan the QR code on that and you are good to go.
Age verification via PASS app at self-checkout in Lotte Mart : living_in_korea_now
I haven't bothered adding my license to PASS yet, just because as far as I'm aware, it still doesn't function as a fully fledged license you can present to a cop if you get pulled over. It's only really for verifying ID inside offices, banks, convenience stores, and apparently Lotte Mart self-checkouts.
There is a mobile drivers license, but you first need to have an IC license card that you then connect to the app. My license is still non-IC. So I figure when it's time to renew, I presume all new licenses come with the IC chip so I'll get it eventually. I'm not in a big rush.
Anyway it's not a bad idea to consider this. When I buy alcohol there's always a lady right there who beeps the approval anyway which to me is actually easier than taking out my phone and opening another app. I guess I'm still a luddite in some ways.
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