South Korean Won | KRW | South Korean Currency

1125 reads

South Korean won Currency:

South Korean won is official currency of South Korea. After World War IIin 1945, Korea became divided into two countries South and North Korea and each country would have a different currency both called won. Both the Southern won and the Northern won replaced the yen at par.

At first South Korean single won was divided into 100 jeon but there are no jeon coins in circulation but appear only in foreign exchange rates. The Bank of Joseon was in charge of minting coins and issuing notes. In 1950, The Bank of Korea, a new central bank was established. With its new denominations of banknotes 5, 10 and 50 jeon, and 100 and 1,000 won were introduced and in 1952 the 500-won notes were introduced. A year later in 1953 a series of banknotes was issued which, although denominated in English as “won”, were, in fact, the first issues of the hwan.

On 15th of February 1953 the first South Korean won was replaced by the hwan at a rate of 1 hwan: 100 won. On 9th June 1962 won was reintroduced at a rate of 1 WON: 10 hwan. On March 22, 1975, it became the sole legal tender with the withdrawal of the last circulating hwan coins.

South Korean Won