Issued to commemorate the 1988 Seoul Olympics, this piece was part of a multi-year, multi-denomination program the Bank of Korea launched beginning in 1982 — one of the most ambitious Olympic coinage programs any host nation had undertaken at that point. South Korea used the series partly as a foreign exchange vehicle, with sets marketed aggressively to international collectors well before the Games opened.
Handball was included as a nod to its popularity in Europe and its growing amateur base in Korea, where the national team would go on to win gold in the women's event at Seoul.
Issued to commemorate the 1988 Seoul Olympics, this piece was part of a multi-year, multi-denomination program the Bank of Korea launched beginning in 1982 — one of the most ambitious Olympic coinage programs any host nation had undertaken at that point. South Korea used the series partly as a foreign exchange vehicle, with sets marketed aggressively to international collectors well before the Games opened.
Handball was included as a nod to its popularity in Europe and its growing amateur base in Korea, where the national team would go on to win gold in the women's event at Seoul.