1 Won Arirang Dancer

North Korea has issued commemorative coinage sporadically since the 1970s, almost entirely for foreign collectors and diplomatic currency — virtually none of these pieces ever circulated domestically. The Arirang series of the early 2000s coincided with the mass Arirang gymnastic festivals revived under Kim Jong-il, which by 2002 were drawing over 100,000 participants per performance and functioning as state propaganda on a nearly industrial scale.

The brass variant designated KM#313a distinguishes it from a silver issue of the same type, both produced without meaningful domestic monetary function.