Catalog
50 Chon Socialist Visitor
| Issuer | Foreign Trade Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1988 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Chon (0.50 KPW) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 외화와바꾼돈표 조선민주주의인민공화국 무역은행 1988 50 오십전 (Translation: Foreign currency exchange, Foreign Trade Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Fifty Chon) |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in deep rose and crimson tones on a wave-line underprint, with a large central guilloche rosette enclosing the numeral '50' as the primary design element. To the right, an oval guilloche panel carries the Korean denomination '오십전' in bold intaglio lettering. A rectangular box at the lower left repeats the denomination '오십전', and a horizontal guilloche band runs across the upper portion of the note. |
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| Comments |
North Korea ran a parallel currency system for decades, issuing separate notes for foreign visitors to prevent hard currency from mixing with the domestic won supply. This 50 Chon is part of the "socialist visitor" series — a distinction that mattered, since notes issued to visitors from capitalist countries carried different color coding and were not interchangeable at the same rate. The Foreign Trade Bank administered the system, which effectively let the state capture foreign exchange while keeping ordinary citizens entirely insulated from it.
The series was abolished in the early 2000s as the system became increasingly unworkable following the economic collapses of the 1990s.