Bank of Korea Approves New Currency Designs

The new 10,000 won bill, which will be introduced in the first half of 2007, will include “Ilwolobongdo (Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks)”; “Yongbieocheonga (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven)”; and “Honcheonui.”

For the design of the new 1,000 won bill, which will be issued around the same time, Maehwa (Korean apricot blossoms), Myeongryundang (a Confucian academy in the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties), and “Gyesangjeonggeodo,” a painting drawn by Gyeomjae Jeong Seon, were selected.

Portraits of King Sejong and the famous Confucian scholar Toegye Lee Hwang will remain in the designs for each bill.

The Bank of Korea (BOK)’s Monetary Board approved of new designs for the country’s 10,000 and 1,000 won bills on July 21, and plans to issue them in the first half of 2007.

On the front side of the new 10,000 won bill, the current designs of the embroidered patterns and the water clock will be replaced by “Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks,” a painting of the “Ilwolobongdo”, and the second chapter of “Yongbieocheonga,” which starts with the phrase, “A deep-rooted tree shalt not….”

On the rear, Honcheonui, an instrument for celestial observation included in national treasure No. 230, “Honcheonsigye,” will take the place of the existing Gyeonghoeru Pavilion.

The front side of the 1,000 won bill will have Maehwa and Myeongryundang, instead of the current embroidered patterns and throwing arrows. Maehwa is known to be the favorite trees of Toegye, the main model on the front side of the 1,000 won bill.

The new 10,000 and 1,000 won bills are 148mm and 136mm wide, respectively. Both are 68mm long. They will become 13mm and 15mm narrower in width and 8.0mm shorter in length compared with the current 10,000 and 1,000 won bills. This makes the Korean notes smaller than U.S. dollars, which are 155.9mm wide and 66.3mm long.

Sun-Woo Kim sublime@donga.com