Kakao Pay will waive payment fees and provide marketing support to secure new small business merchants. It is also offering foreigner payments and functions linked to local currency, accelerating efforts to expand its offline payments ecosystem.

Kakao Pay said on Thursday it will waive Kakao Pay Money payment fees in full through the end of this year for newly signed small and micro offline merchants.

The offer applies to businesses with annual sales of 500 million won or less that complete new merchant applications and screening from May 18 to June 30.

New merchants will also receive a marketing package called the "Boss Success Kit". For stores where the first payment occurs, Kakao Pay will support coupon marketing of up to 30 percent discounts, store exposure within the Kakao Pay app and Kakao Map, and promotional materials featuring Kakao Friends characters.

It will also provide a payment kit for free. Merchants can accept payments by placing a payment kit with a Kakao Friends design in stores without a separate terminal or barcode scanner.

It will also support payments using local currency and policy support subsidies. Foreign tourists can pay with their home-country pay services without separate currency exchange.

A Kakao Pay official said the goal is to help small business owners secure repeat customers without additional costs and complicated procedures. The official said the company will expand a payments ecosystem that benefits both users and merchants.