1 Won Dryocopus Javensis

North Korea began issuing collector-oriented aluminum pieces in the late 1990s partly as a hard-currency earner — these coins were sold abroad through state trading channels while the domestic economy was in the grip of the catastrophic famine of 1994–1998, known in official North Korean discourse as the "Arduous March," which killed hundreds of thousands and effectively collapsed the country's existing monetary circulation.

Dryocopus javensis, the white-bellied woodpecker, ranges across parts of the Korean peninsula. Its inclusion here reflects a broader DPRK numismatic pattern of using wildlife subjects specifically for foreign export series, not domestic use.