700 Won Sailing Junk

North Korea's gold bullion and commemorative issues from the early 2000s were produced primarily for hard currency export, not domestic circulation — the won was non-convertible and ordinary citizens had no access to foreign-trade goods. These pieces were sold through intermediaries in Macao and later through European dealers, generating foreign exchange for a regime under mounting sanctions pressure following its 2002 admission that it had continued a covert uranium enrichment program.

KM#612 is cataloged among a cluster of issues from that same year, suggesting a coordinated release rather than an isolated striking.