Customers will be able to make large purchases from Korean electronics commerce services without downloading public key certificates starting Tuesday.

In Korea, customers had been required to use a public key, which is bound to an individual and used to produce digital signatures for financial transactions such as online banking and buying products priced at 300,00 won or higher.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) revealed the revised law for e-transactions which took effect May 20.

Under the revision, the financial regulators have lifted the requirement of the public key certificates for online payments with credit or debit cards for purchases more expensive than 300,000 won.

Such obligation, which resulted in a Microsoft mono-culture in operating systems and Web browsers, had been blamed for locking Koreans into outdated technology, causing inconvenient services and high security risks.

The financial regulators began all encrypted online communications, including electronic commerce, online banking and e-government services, to be based on digital signatures enabled through public-key infrastructure in 2000. More than 30 million of these signatures have been issued.

President Park Geun-hye criticized the country's computer security requirements as a large number of Chinese customers who are the fans of the popular drama "My Love From the Star" wanted to buy the clothes and accessories worn by the characters in the drama at Korean websites but couldn't because the sites required the certificates.

Under the old regulations, foreigners had difficulty with purchasing goods through the local online shopping malls because public key certificates were not been available for them. But they were not always required to use public keys for purchases over 300,000 won. For example, airlines such as Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have been allowed to sell their tickets through their online English-language pages without requiring customers to use the certificates.

Under the revision, non-Koreans can buy goods priced at 300,000 won or above without the certificates with overseas issued credit cards such as Visa or Master Card as credit card firms and payment gateways can freely decide their own security methods.

However, online account transfers for purchases still require certificates over concerns of security risks.

The financial authorities will instruct the financial firms to introduce diverse security methods.

"The revision is expected to improve the complicated security system and diversify payment methods by giving more freedom to financial firms to decide on their own security," an FSS official said.