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The won is the currency of South Korea. It is subdivided into 100 jeon, although denominations in jeon are no longer used.

History

• See also Korean yang, Korean won, Korean yen, South Korean hwan, North Korean won

The won was first used as Korea's currency between 1905 and 1910. It was replaced at par by the yen, made up of the Japanese currency and banknotes of the Korean yen

In 1945, Korea was divided, resulting in separate currencies, both called won, for the South and the North. Both the Northern and Southern won replaced the yen at par.

The first South Korean won was subdivided into 100 chon. Only banknotes were issued. This won was replaced by the hwan on February 15 1953 at a rate of 1 hwan = 100 won.

The won was reintroduced on June 9 1962 at a rate of 1 won = 10 hwan. It became the sole legal tender on March 22 1975. Its ISO 4217 code is KRW.

Denominations

Coins

Coins currently in circulation are

The ₩1 and ₩5 coins are difficult to find in circulation today, and prices of consumer goods are rounded to 10's. The Bank of Korea issued 1, 5 and 10 won coins on August 16, 1966 to substitute for the 10 hwan and 50 hwan coins that had circulated along with the newly-issued banknotes following the third currency reform in 1962 in accordance with the "Law Concerning Temporary Measures for the Circulation of Struck Coins" of August 27, 1962.

On August 26, 1968, as the intrinsic value of the 1 won brass coins far surpassed their face value, new 1 won (Series II) aluminum coins were issued to replace them. To facilitate small transactions and reduce currency production costs, new 10 won (Series II) and 5 won(Series II) coins were issued on July 16, 1970 ; 100 won coins on November 30 of the same year ; and 50 Won coins on December 1, 1972.

The Hwan coins were declared no longer legal tender from March 22, 1975 following the abrogation of the "Law Concerning Temporary Measures for Circulation of Struck Coins" in December 1974.

New 500 Won coins were issued from June 12, 1982 to replace the 500 won note. The Bank of Korea eventually set up a standardized coin system by issuing new 100 won (Series II), 50 won (Series II), 10 Won (Series III), 5 won (Series III), and 1 won (Series III) coins on January 15, 1983.

Banknotes

Banknotes series by design are

(The Bank of Korea designates banknote series in an interesting way. Instead of putting banknotes of similar design and issue dates in the same series, they assign series number X to the Xth design of for each individual value. Therefore, ₩1000 issued in 1983 is series II because it is the second design of all ₩1000 designs since the change over in 1962.)

The highest valued bill, the ₩10,000 note, is worth only approximately US$10. Larger transactions are commonly handled by ₩100,000 bank checks, dispensed from ATMs. South Koreans use electronic means of payment, intra-bank transfers, and credit cards, to a greater extent than even in the U.S.

The first South Korean won was only issued in banknotes, with denominations ranging from 5 chon to 1000 won.

In 1962 six new banknote denominations were issued in the new currency: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 won. The Bank of Korea issued new 10 and 100 Won notes (series II) later that year to replace the England-printed notes with domestically printed ones. 10 jeon and 50 jeon notes were also issued for convenience in the settlement of change in petty transactions.

The third series of 100 Won notes, the first by domestic intaglio printing, were issued in 1965 and the second series of 500 won notes in 1966. Litho-printing was used for the third series of 50 won notes issued in 1969.

The denomination of the then highest value notes, 500 won, was low in comparison with the scale of transactions in the 1960's, resulting in a great demand for cash and counterfeit cashier's checks.

Eventually, the Bank of Korea issued 5,000 won notes (series I) in 1972 and 10,000 won notes (series I) in 1973, with new design and security features, including watermark, security thread, and ultraviolet response fiber.

Newly-designed 500 won (Series III) notes were released on September 1, 1973, and 1,000 won notes (Series I) were issued on August 14, 1975.

In 1983, the Bank of Korea issued new 1,000 won notes (Series II), revised 5,000 won notes (Series III), and new 10,000 won notes (Series III) as part of its policy of rationalizing the currency system. The most notable features were see-throughs, distinguishing marks for the blind and common machine readable language.

The Bank of Korea issued a new series of 10,000 won notes incorporating enhanced security features on January 20, 1994, keeping the same design, and prevailing color but including windowed thread, micro lettering, moir and intaglio latent image.

In 1993, the Bank suspended the issue of Series III 500 won notes, which were replaced by coins, and of Series I 1,000 won, Series II 5,000 won, and Series II 10,000 won notes.

The Bank of Korea will release a set of banknotes in a completely new design starting in 2006. ₩5,000 notes are already released on January 2, 2006, and ₩1,000 is planned to be released in first half of 2007. The portraits and the color theme remains the same. But more security features are added:

• EURion constellation, which was previously available on ₩10,000, was added to ₩1,000 and ₩5,000
• Color-shifting Holograms ₩5,000. Note that it depicts the whole Korean Peninsula.

There are also a few other changes beside security features. The seal of the Bank changed from red, circle shaped to squared shaped of the same color of the note. This is due to popular complains that the old seal is a remaining symbol of Japanese Imperialism. The seal did not change when the Japanese left Korea. The English name of the Bank also changed from "The Bank of Korea" to "Bank of Korea". It is unknown whether this is intentional or a benign mistake.

Exchange rates

Source: XE.com Rates on January 25, 2006

• 1 Euro (EUR) = ₩1,192.32
• 1 UK pound (GBP) = ₩1,736.68
• 1 US dollar (USD) = ₩973.827

External links

• Bank of Korea (in English)
• "Dollar Plummets to Pre-Crisis Level Against Won", The Chosun Ilbo, January 25, 2006.
• "New W5,000 Bills Forgery- but not Water-Proof", January 25, 2006.
• "New W1,000 Note Unveiled", The Chosun Ilbo, January 17, 2006.

• Economy of South Korea