20 Won Cercopithecus mitis

North Korea's foreign-currency commemorative program, active from the 1970s onward, was designed almost entirely for export — these coins were sold through agencies like Münzhandlung Dresden to collectors abroad, never intended for domestic circulation. Hard currency from foreign numismatists was the point. The Cercopithecus mitis, a Central African monkey with no particular connection to the DPRK, appears here as part of a broader wildlife series that drew subjects from across the globe precisely because international buyers expected exotic fauna.

KM#943 is brass where related issues in the same series were struck in silver or cupro-nickel, making composition a meaningful variable when cataloging this run.