5 Won Eagle

North Korea's collector coin program, operating under the Foreign Currency Shop system established in the 1970s, produced silver issues almost exclusively for hard-currency export — pieces that functionally never circulated within the DPRK itself. The 2003 issues appeared during a period when the regime was under severe international sanctions following the collapse of the Agreed Framework, and foreign exchange generation through numismatic exports was one of the few mechanisms still available for acquiring hard currency.