1 Mun - Goryeo Tong Guk Chung Bo

The Tonggukchobo was Korea's first government-issued copper coinage, ordered by Mokjong in 996 and entering circulation around 998. The project was a deliberate attempt to displace the centuries-old grain and cloth commodity currency that still dominated everyday exchange — an attempt that largely failed. The Korean agricultural economy resisted coined money stubbornly, and despite repeated royal edicts mandating its use, the issue circulated poorly outside the capital Gaegyeong.

Production continued sporadically under successive Goryeo kings through the early twelfth century before the state effectively abandoned the experiment.