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20 Chon

Issuer Central Bank of North Korea
Year 1947
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In circulation to 1959
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Obverse lettering 北朝鮮中央銀行券 貳拾 錢 1947
(Translation: Banknote of the Central Bank of North Korea Twenty Chon 1947)
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Reverse lettering 민주조선 20 전 20
(Translation: Democratic Chosun 20 Chon)
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North Korea's first postwar currency series, issued in 1947, was introduced by the newly established Central Bank as the Soviet-backed government consolidated administrative control north of the 38th parallel. The 1947 won series replaced the Japanese colonial yen-denominated notes that had continued circulating after liberation, and the chon denominations were the fractional working end of that system — the notes most likely to actually pass through hands in markets and state shops.

P#6 is among the smallest denominations in the series. Surviving examples in any condition are harder to locate than the higher values, consistent with the pattern of heavy small-denomination attrition in command economies where fractional notes wore out faster than they were replaced.