50 Chon Peoples Republic, Specimen

North Korea's specimen coinage from this period was produced almost exclusively for international distribution through Numismatic Guarantee channels and foreign currency shops — not for domestic circulation, where the won-based economy operated under strict state allocation rather than market exchange. The 1978 aluminium issues were among the first specimens the DPRK systematically exported, likely as part of hard currency generation during a period of acute foreign debt following the country's 1975 default on Western creditors.