10 000 Won Gymnast

Issued to mark the 1988 Seoul Olympics, South Korea's first time hosting the Games — an event the government had pursued aggressively since the early 1980s partly to signal the country's emergence from decades of military-dominated rule. The coin was released while Roh Tae-woo, himself a former general, had just assumed the presidency following a contested transition period that included the June Democratic Struggle of 1987.

KM#74 is one of several denominations in the Seoul Olympics commemorative series. Collectors assembling complete sets frequently find this particular piece harder to source in original government packaging than the lower-denomination issues from the same program.