Reuters is reporting South Korea's communications commission is planning to install or upgrade 300,000 mobile point-of-sale (POS) terminals throughout the country at retailers and transportation locations.

The Reuters story also reports the South Korean communications commission is going to require all smartphones be equipped with near-field-communication (NFC) technology.

In a statement quoted by Reuters, the head of the commission said, "Mobile payment technology has been available since early 2000 but it failed to take off for various reasons ... but today's agreement is a small step toward mutual growth going forward."