North Korean won
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North Korean won 조선민주주의인민공화국 원 (Korean) 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國 圓 (Korean Hanja)
ISO 4217 Code	KPW
User(s)	Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Subunit
1/100	chŏn (전/錢)
Symbol	₩
Plural	The language(s) of this currency does not have a morphological plural distinction.
Coins	₩10, ₩50, ₩100
Banknotes	₩1, ₩5, ₩10, ₩50, ₩100, ₩200, ₩500, ₩1000, ₩5000
Central bank	Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The wŏn is the currency of North Korea. It is subdivided into 100 chŏn. The wŏn is issued by the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Etymology

Main article: Etymology of the Korean currencies

Wŏn is a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen. The wŏn was subdivided into 100 chŏn (전; 錢; McCune-Reischauer: chŏn; Revised Romanization: jeon).

History

Main article: History of the Korean currencies

The wŏn became the currency of North Korea on December 6, 1947, replacing the Korean yen that was still in circulation. It was revalued at a rate of one hundred to one in 1959. For the earlier Korean wŏn, see Korean wŏn.

North Korean wŏn are intended exclusively for North Korean citizens, and the Bank of Trade (무역은행) issued a separate currency (or foreign exchange certificates) for visitors, like many other socialist states. However, North Korea made 2 varieties of foreign exchange certificates, one for visitors from "socialist countries" which were coloured red, and the other for visitors from "capitalist countries" which were coloured blue/green. In recent times, FECs have been largely deprecated in favor of visitors paying directly with hard currency, especially the euro.

Since 2001, the North Korean government has abandoned the iconic rate of 2.16 wŏn to the dollar (which is said to have been based upon Kim Jong-il's birthday, February 16) and banks in the country now issue at rates closer to the black market rate. However, rampant inflation has been eroding the North Korean wŏn's value to such an extent that currently it is believed to be worth about the same as the South Korean wŏn. In any case, the U.S. dollar and other currencies are still worth more in North Korean wŏn on the black market than officially. This is also apparent when one examines the dates of issue or series of the different denominations of banknotes (see below).

Coins

Coins in circulation are

During the Cold War there was a special system of marking coins for different groups of people. Coins with no stars were for North Koreans, coins with 1 star were for "socialist visitors", and coins with 2 stars were for "capitalist visitors". Besides the circulating coins, there's an abundance of different commemorative coins minted in the name of the DPRK. Most, if not all of them are sold to foreign numismatists.

Banknotes

As explained above, there are two varieties of foreign certificates. For the 1978 banknote series, foreign certificates were implemented by overstamp and serial number color:

In 1988, the Bank of Trade (무역은행) (as opposed to the Central Bank) issued 2 unique series of foreign certificates. They both included 1 chŏn, 5 chŏn, 10 chŏn, 50 chŏn, ₩1, ₩5, ₩10, and ₩50. The series for "capitalist visitors" was blue-green, while the series for "socialist visitors" was pink. The chŏn notes had a simple design of patterns and the values, while the socialist wŏn notes depict the International Friendship Exhibition, and the capitalist wŏn notes depict the Chollima statue.

Banknotes in circulation are

Unusually, the 100, 1,000 and 5,000 wŏn bills are of essentially the same basic design, portraying the exact same subjects (although they are colored differently). North Korea has in the past issued whole series of foreign exchange certificates in which the designs are exactly the same, right down to color, only the denomination being different.

Note: Rates obtained from these websites could be substantially different from black market rate

See also

• Economy of North Korea

References

External links

• Don's World Coin Gallery - North Korea
• Ron Wise's World Paper Money - Korea, North ^{Mirror site}
• Tables of Modern Monetary Systems by Kurt Schuler - Asia ^{Mirror site}
• The Global History of Currencies - Korea
• Global Financial Data data series - Democratic Republic of Korea Won
• Global Financial Data currency histories table ( Microsoft Excel format)

v • d • e Historical currencies of Korea Mun 1633–1892 Yang 1892–1902 Won 1902–1910 Yen 1902–1945 North Korean old won 1947–1959 North Korean new won since 1959 South Korean old won 1945–1953 South Korean hwan 1953–1962 South Korean new won since 1962 Etymology and history of the Korean currencies