10 000 Won

The P#52 series ran from 1994 through 2002, bridging South Korea's recovery from the 1997–98 IMF crisis — a period when public confidence in domestic institutions was genuinely shaken. The 10,000 Won note remained the highest denomination in circulation throughout that crisis despite calls to introduce a 50,000 Won note, a proposal repeatedly shelved until 2009.

Security is modest by contemporary standards: a simple watermark and embedded thread, with no color-shifting ink or microprinting. The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation had the technical capacity for more by 2000, but the denomination's replacement was already in planning, limiting investment in upgraded features.