North Korea’s banknotes first came in 1947, after a hard-to-find series of Soviet-produced won banknotes in 1945 proved temporary. One hundred chon are equal to 1 won; most DPRK notes are denominated in the larger unit of won.
1947 series: Korean and Japanese
The first North Korean banknotes, the 1947 notes issued by the North Korean Central Bank, were valued as low as 15 chon; there were also 20 and 50 chon notes, plus 1, 5, 10, and 100 won notes. These 1947 notes included some Korean script, numbers and date in Latin script, and much Japanese — the banking authority is rendered as 北朝鮮中央銀行券 (pronounced kita chōsen chūō ginkō ken).
1959 series: DPRK
When the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea issued its first notes in 1959, new notes excluded the Japanese script that had appeared earlier, and the six notes (50 chon, and 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 won) can be difficult to identify for collectors who can’t read the Korean script without a catalog or other reference material. These notes feature the name of the country in Korean: 조선민주주의인민공화국 (pronounced chosŏn minjujuŭi inmin konghwaguk).
North Korea Pin and Badge: “Dear Leader” Collectibles
1978 series: socialist vs. non-socialist varieties
In 1978, North Korea issued a famous series of notes whose 1, 5, and 10 won pieces had variations intended to separate people into socialist or capitalist: one color was for North Korean people, another color was for international visitors from Communist countries, and a third color was for visitors from non-Communist countries. As with North Korean coins, some of which used a similar system, there is not much difference in marketplace value between these notes, and they can be collected however you wish. The 100 won note from this 1978 series was the first to feature an image of the leader Kim Il-Sung, and did not follow the color-coding system.
1988, 1992, and 2002 series
North Korea’s 1988 banknotes were again issued in socialist/non-socialist visitors, this time with differing designs, not just differing colors. The notes were in 1, 5, 10, and 50 chon, and 1, 5, 10, and 50 won. Further series followed in 1992 and 2002, in ever-higher denominations as inflation gripped the country.
See also: United States rare banknotes and collectible paper money
2009 series: currency reform
In an effort to combat the increasingly desperate economy, North Korea reformed its currency in 2009, issuing new banknotes in 5, 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 won values. Although this proved to be ineffective at fixing the country’s economic problems, it did give banknote collectors a new focus for their collections.
Other North Korean banknotes
In addition to the regular-issue banknotes, North Korea paper money pieces are available as special limited commemorative notes and as specimens (the latter can be identified by the prominent characters 견본). The marketplace features an interesting array of different North Korean banknotes for sale at any one time from a wide swath of vendors — check the current listings here.
