wonKorean currency also spelled hwan
Main
monetary units of South Korea and North Korea. The Bank of Korea has the exclusive authority to issue banknotes and coins for South Korea. Banknotes are issued in denominations ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 won. The notes are adorned on the obverse with early Yi (Chosŏn) dynasty figures, including writers Yi Hwang (1,000-won note) and Yi I (5,000-won note) and King Sejong (10,000-won note), who reigned from 1419 to 1450. Coins range in value from 1 to 500 won. The new won was adopted in 1962, when the old won was replaced at a rate of 100 to 1.
The Central Bank of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established in 1946 and has exclusive authority for issuing and regulating banknotes and currency in the country. The North Korean won, known as the people’s won until 1959, is divided into 100 chŏn. The local North Korean won is not convertible to foreign currencies and is strictly controlled by the government (a special convertible won has been introduced for use by foreigners).
Citations
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "won" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.