50 000 Won Turtle Boat

Issued to commemorate the 1986 Asian Games held in Seoul, this piece belongs to a collector-focused series that the Bank of Korea used partly to generate foreign exchange ahead of South Korea's broader international coming-out moment — the 1988 Seoul Olympics were already on the horizon, and the government was acutely aware of the promotional value of high-profile numismatic releases. Mintages were tightly controlled and domestic circulation was never the intent.

The turtle ship itself, the geobukseon, was deployed by Admiral Yi Sun-sin during the Japanese invasions of 1592–98 — one of the earliest ironclad warship designs in recorded naval history.