Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Won
| Won | |
|---|---|
| Korean Name | |
| Revised Romanization | Won |
| McCune-Reischauer | Wŏn |
| Hangul | 원 |
| Hanja | 圓 |
Won is the official currency used in both South Korea and North Korea. Their exchange values differ, however.
| Full names | Symbols | Abbr. |
|---|---|---|
| North Korean won | ₩n or Wn | KPW |
| South Korean won | ₩ or W | KRW |
Historically, North and South Korean won have been divided into 100 jeon (전; 錢; McCune-Reischauer: chŏn; Revised Romanization: jeon; in North Korea, it is also Romanized jun). Jeon are no longer used in South Korea, as the smallest amount of money that typically changes hands is 100 Won, or roughly 10 US cents.
The word jeon is also used in Korean to translate the word "cent," and in this context accompanies bul (불, 弗), which means "dollar." (The hanja character resembles the symbol "$".) These two words are used by Koreans living in the Western hemisphere when referring to dollar currencies.
| Contents |
Exchange rates
North Korean won
Official exchange rates as of December, 2002
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)
- 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.
South Korean won
Coins currently in circulation are [1]
- 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
- 1000 Won (Yi Hwang, scholar, Reverse: Dosan Seowon (Dosan Confucian Academy))
- 5000 Won (Yi I, scholar, Reverse: Yi I's birthplace)
- 10,000 Won (King Sejong the Great and water clock, Reverse: Gyeonghuiru (Pavillion))
See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- Won is also the name of a new Korean sect of Buddhism.
External Links
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