1 Won Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung

Issued to commemorate the June 2000 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang — the first meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas since the peninsula's division in 1945. Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung shook hands on June 13th, and the event generated genuine international optimism, briefly reviving talk of eventual reunification. The North issued this piece as part of a broader commemorative program capitalizing on the moment.

Kim Dae-jung received the Nobel Peace Prize that October, partly in recognition of his "Sunshine Policy" that made the summit possible.