The ‘won’ with an ISO code of KRW, is the currency of South Korea. It is divisible into 100 jeon, which is not in market circulation unit of currency in South Korea because of its very low monetary value. Won is similar to the currency of Japan and China. Won and jeon are the impressions of Chinese characters and their meaning in this script is “round shape” and “money” respectively. Won started to circulate in the country since 1902 but with the independence of South Korea in 1945, it was officially announced as the national currency. At first, the duty of controlling the circulation of currency in South Korean was on the shoulders of Bank of Joseon and with the in 1950, Bank of Korea became of official guard of handling the currency issues in the country. Coins of won are available with denominations of 10, 50, 100 and 500 won and banknotes have denominations of 1000, 5000, 10000 and 50000 wons. Both of these currencies are minted and printed at KOMSCO which is government based organization and works under the supervision of the Bank of Korea. In the middle of the era i.e. in 1953, the won was replaced by Hwan at an exchange rate of 1 Hwan=100 won. However, won takes the original position shortly in 1962 with an exchange rate of 1 won =10 Hwan.

South Korea Currency Won

April 7, 2011 | Afifa Gillani | No Comments | 293 views