North Korea's foreign-currency coin program, active from the 1970s onward, produced collector issues almost entirely for export — hard currency earned abroad, never intended to circulate domestically. The Indian Pitta, a migratory species that does pass through the Korean peninsula during seasonal movements, gives this issue at least a geographic rationale that some entries in the series lack entirely.
North Korea's foreign-currency coin program, active from the 1970s onward, produced collector issues almost entirely for export — hard currency earned abroad, never intended to circulate domestically. The Indian Pitta, a migratory species that does pass through the Korean peninsula during seasonal movements, gives this issue at least a geographic rationale that some entries in the series lack entirely.