10 Won SISCE 1997

The DPRK's foreign currency collectibles program, active from the 1980s onward, existed almost entirely to generate hard currency from overseas buyers — the coins were never intended for domestic circulation and most North Korean citizens would never have encountered one. KM#101 falls squarely within this export-for-revenue scheme, produced for sale through foreign numismatic dealers, primarily in Europe and Asia, at a time when Pyongyang was navigating severe economic contraction following the collapse of Soviet aid.

The 1997 date places this issue at the height of a famine that killed an estimated 500,000 to 3.5 million people domestically, while the state continued minting silver commemoratives for foreign exchange.