Catalog
1000 Won
| Issuer | Bank of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1950-1953 |
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| In circulation to | 15 February 1953 |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of President Syngman Rhee (1875–1965), the first President of the Republic of Korea, rendered in intaglio style against a trellis guilloche underprint. Chinese and Korean legends are arranged around the portrait, with the issuing authority inscription at top and denomination in both Chinese characters and numerals. The overall design reflects Japanese-influenced security printing conventions of the early Korean banknote series. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 韓國銀行券 千 圎 1000 韓國銀行 (Translation: Korean banknotes, One Thousand Won, Bank of Korea) |
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| Comments |
South Korea's earliest paper currency was printed in Japan — a practical necessity given that the newly established Bank of Korea had no domestic printing infrastructure when the won was introduced in 1950. The National Printing Bureau in Tokyo had the capacity; geopolitics made the arrangement awkward but unavoidable. The Korean War, which began just weeks after the Bank of Korea's founding, created urgent demand for notes that the peninsula itself could not supply.
Wartime inflation hit hard. By 1953 the won had collapsed sufficiently to necessitate the hwan reform, which replaced it at 100:1. Notes from this series that survived did so largely outside normal circulation channels.