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| Issuer | Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The state emblem of the DPRK is centered at top, with issuer name and denomination in Hangul below. A Siebold's Magnolia vignette occupies the lower right, set against an elaborate multicolour guilloche underprint with a colour-shifting square device. Denomination numerals appear in both upper right and lower left corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a rectangular panel enclosing usage instructions in Hangul, set over a fine guilloche rosette underprint in blue and violet tones. Blank fields for issuing branch, date, and payee details are ruled to the right of the text block. The denomination numeral '5000' appears in blue at lower right. |
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| Comments |
North Korea issued savings bonds — as opposed to currency — only sporadically, and this 2003 series was one of the first explicitly marketed toward ordinary citizens rather than state enterprises. The bonds were tied to the regime's broader push to formalize a semi-monetized economy following the July 2002 economic reforms, which introduced limited price liberalization and wage adjustments after decades of near-total central allocation.
Watermarking on DPRK-issued paper instruments of this period was inconsistent in execution, and the Central Bank had limited access to high-security substrate suppliers due to sanctions. Pick lists this as P#901 with no significant variants recorded.