10 Won Hwasong-14 Missile Launch

The Hwasong-14 was North Korea's first intercontinental ballistic missile test, conducted on July 4, 2017 — the date deliberately chosen to antagonize the United States. A second test followed later that month, with the regime claiming a range sufficient to reach the American mainland. Commemorative coins issued by Pyongyang's state bank function less as currency than as hard-currency export goods, sold abroad through government trading companies to generate foreign exchange the country cannot earn through conventional trade.