20 Won Year of the Tiger

North Korea has issued commemorative coinage sporadically since the 1970s, largely for foreign collectors and hard-currency export rather than domestic circulation — the won itself has been largely non-functional as a consumer currency inside the DPRK. This piece appeared the same year Kim Jong-il's government conducted its second nuclear test, in May 2009, and redenominated the currency in November of that year, a shock reform that wiped out private savings and triggered rare public protests.

The redenomination rendered most 2009-dated won coinage immediately obsolete domestically before it could circulate.