200 Won

North Korea has issued 200 Won notes under several different series, and the 2008 date places this one firmly within the period preceding the catastrophic currency redenomination of November 2009, when the government exchanged old won for new at 100:1 with strict caps on the total amount households could convert. Notes from this vintage were rendered legally worthless almost overnight, with citizens given just days to exchange holdings — a deliberate mechanism to destroy accumulated private savings and reassert state control over informal markets that had grown significantly during the famine years.

Watermark-only security on a note of this denomination reflects the limited printing infrastructure available to the Central Bank during this period.