North Korea issued a small series of aluminum coins in 1959 for use by foreign visitors — a parallel currency system designed to keep hard currency and capitalist-market transactions segregated from the domestic won economy. The "capitalist visitor" designation distinguished these pieces from a companion series intended for socialist-bloc tourists, the two populations being tracked and monetarily separated by the state.
KM#5 is among the more elusive pieces from this set, reflecting genuinely low production rather than attrition through circulation.
North Korea issued a small series of aluminum coins in 1959 for use by foreign visitors — a parallel currency system designed to keep hard currency and capitalist-market transactions segregated from the domestic won economy. The "capitalist visitor" designation distinguished these pieces from a companion series intended for socialist-bloc tourists, the two populations being tracked and monetarily separated by the state.
KM#5 is among the more elusive pieces from this set, reflecting genuinely low production rather than attrition through circulation.