10 Won Alexander von Humboldt

North Korea's commemorative gold program of the mid-2000s was aimed squarely at foreign collectors and generated hard currency for the regime — these pieces never circulated domestically. Humboldt is an unusual choice for Pyongyang to honor, though his five-year South American expedition of 1799–1804 and his later travels through Russian Central Asia made him a figure whose scientific materialism could be framed, however awkwardly, within socialist intellectual traditions.

KM#1196 is among dozens of small-format gold issues from this period, most produced at the Bavarian State Mint under contract.