20 Won Historic Pyongyang Meeting

Issued to commemorate the June 2000 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang — the first meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea since the peninsula's division in 1945. Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration, raising brief hopes of reconciliation. Kim Dae-jung received the Nobel Peace Prize that October, partly on the strength of that meeting.

North Korean commemorative silver issues of this period were produced almost exclusively for foreign collectors and hard-currency export sales, with negligible domestic circulation. The Central Bank struck numerous themed types across the early 2000s under similar KM numbers in this series.