20 Won Blue Dragon

North Korea's commemorative coinage of the late 1990s and early 2000s was produced almost exclusively for hard currency export — sold through foreign dealers and never intended for domestic circulation in a country where the won was tightly controlled and consumer markets barely functioned. The Blue Dragon is one of four directional spirit animals drawn from Korean cosmological tradition, each associated with a cardinal direction and a season.

Brass issues from this program are considerably scarcer than their cupro-nickel counterparts, as export buyers generally favored the shinier metal.