North Korean won
Categories: Asian currencies | Economy of North Korea
- For the South Korean currency, see South Korean won.
The won is the currency of North Korea.
Official exchange rates as of December, 2001
Note: Since then, the North Korean government has abandoned the meaningless rate of 2.16 won to the dollar (which is said to be based on 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 won's value to such an extent that currently it is believed to be worth about the same as the South Korean won (of course, the U.S. dollar and other currencies are still worth more in North Korean wons 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).
Denominations
Coins in circulation are
- 1 Jeon
- 5 Jeon
- 10 Jeon
- 50 Jeon
- 1 Won
Banknotes in circulation are
- 1 Won (Woman holding a flower, 1992 series)
- 5 Won (Students with a globe, 1992 series)
- 10 Won (Factory worker and the Chollima statue, 1992 series)
- 50 Won (The People and the Tower of Juche, 1992 series)
- 100 Won (Kim Il Sung, 1992 series)
- 200 Won (flowers)
- 500 Won (Palace of the Memory of Kumsusan, 1998 series)
- 1000 Won (Kim Il Sung, 2002 series)
- 5000 Won (Kim Il Sung, 2002 series)
Unusually, the 100, 1000 and 5000 won 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 notes in which the designs are exactly the same, right down to color, only the denomination being different.
ko:조선민주주의인민공화국 원 nl:Noord-Koreaanse won pt:Won Norte Coreano sv:Nordkoreansk won zh:朝鮮圓