100 Won 5th Republic

South Korea's Fifth Republic began in March 1981 under Chun Doo-hwan, who had seized power following the December 1979 coup and the violent suppression of the Gwangju Uprising. The 100 Won denomination had been circulating in this format since 1970, and the 1981 issue continued without interruption — no redesign marked the political transition, which was itself a political choice, projecting continuity through a period of anything but.