Misplaced Pages

South Korean won

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by SDC (talk | contribs) at 18:56, 31 August 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 18:56, 31 August 2005 by SDC (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
For the North Korean currency, see North Korean won.
South Korean Won banknotes
South Korean Won banknotes

The won is the currency of South Korea.

Exchange rates

Sampled on July 23, 2005

South Korean coins

Denominations

Coins currently in circulation are

  • 1 Won (Rose of Sharon, Aluminum)
  • 5 Won (Kobukson, Turtle ship, 65% copper, 35% zinc)
  • 10 Won (Dabotab, Pagoda, 65% copper, 35% zinc)
  • 50 Won (Stalk of rice, 70% copper, 18% zinc, 12% nickel)
  • 100 Won (Admiral Yi Sun-sin, 75% copper, 25% nickel)
  • 500 Won (Crane, 75% copper, 25% nickel)

Banknotes in circulation are

Strangely enough, the numerical denominations of won bills and coins are almost exactly the same as those of the Japanese yen, even though the yen is worth about nine times as much as the won. But, although these ranges of denominations work just fine for the yen (in which case they're very similar to the denominations of the U.S. dollar in circulation), they seem rather undervalued for the won, especially to American servicemen and Japanese visitors. Thus, the highest valued bill, the 10,000 won note, is worth only $10, while the lowest valued coin is worth only 0.1 U.S. cent. This is a holdover from when the Japanese and South Korean currencies had similar values; however, they have sinced diverged, with the yen strengthening and the won weakening. South Koreans often use electronic means of payment and credit cards to get around this problem with their cash. Also, 100,000 won bank checks (supyo) are used for large purchases and are dispensed from many ATMs.

Currencies of Asia
Central
East
North
South
Southeast
West
Category: