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5 Won
| Issuer | Soviet Red Army Command (North Korea) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 북은군대 사령부 伍 원 화폐위조자는 전시법령에 처벌함 (Translation: Red Army Command, Five Won, Money counterfeiters will be punished by wartime laws and regulations) |
| Reverse description | The reverse, printed in the same red-brown ink, carries a central cartouche with the Chinese numeral 伍 and Korean 원, flanked on each side by large symmetrical vignettes of ornate stylized plumage rendered in fine line work. Corner numerals 5 occupy each angle of the border frame, with the date 1945년 printed below the central cartouche. A lower panel bears the counterfeiting warning inscription. |
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| Comments |
These notes were printed by Soviet military authorities in April 1945, before the formal surrender of Japan, in anticipation of the occupation of northern Korea. They are often called "Red Army won" or Soviet occupation currency, issued under military command rather than any Korean civil authority — there was no Korean central bank to issue them. The series circulated alongside Japanese colonial yen and was not immediately distinguishable to ordinary Koreans as a fundamentally different instrument.
Inflation followed quickly. By 1947 the notes had been largely displaced by the new currency of the emerging northern administration.