Korean yen / won before the North–South currency separation
Korean yen / won before the North–South currency separation: a historical unit of account.
- Dates in use
- Introduction and ending not established
- Ancestry branch
- See family connections
Where this money came from
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The story
Korean government borrowing and currency reform used the new gold won/yen reckoning in 1905. The reform converted old silver10nyang (2oldwon) into1newgoldwon and accepted old currency toward taxes during a transitional period. [1]
Southern Korea continued the existing won through the 1950 issuer change; old Joseon won notes and new Bank of Korea won notes circulated together before the 1953 hwan reform. [2]
December 1947 reform established northern money as sole unlimited public/private settlement medium, converted prior common-unit instruments at par and regulated existing deposits and debts. [3]
Turning points
Account-unit observation
The inherited Korean yen/won continued as the local accounting and settlement unit in southern Korea under occupation monetary controls; the replacement and withdrawal of particular Japanese and military notes did not by themselves create further unit identities. [4]
Sources and evidence
- National Institute of Korean History · Korean Cultural History8, currency reorganization and financial crisis C1492 ↗
- official institutional history · Bank of Korea, Currency Timeline 1950–1953; official institutional history · Bank of Korea, Currency Timeline 1953–1962 C1493 ↗
- North Korean People’s Committee; digitized by National Institute of Korean History · North Korean People’s Committee Decree No. 30: Decision on issuance of new currency and exchange of existing currency C1617 ↗
- State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee; reproduced in Foreign Relations of the United States · SWNCC176/8, Basic Initial Directive for Civil Affairs in US-Occupied Korea, approved13 October 1945, transmitted17 October 1945; National Institute of Korean History · Korean Cultural History8: Bank of Chosen notes and American military currency; Jieun Park (2017) · The Bank of Chosen C1518 ↗
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Cite this page
“Korean yen / won before the North–South currency separation.” The Family Tree of Money. © Field Technologies, Inc. Reader edition 2026-10-13; research dataset v44. https://familytreeofmoney.org/currency/FTM000118.html