The won was the first

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n currency and was in use from August 15, 1945, to February 15, 1953.

Etymology

Won is a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

of the

Chinese yuan The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...

and

Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the ...

. The won was subdivided into 100 jeon (전; 錢; McCune-Reischauer: ''chŏn''; revised: ''jeon'').

History

Following the end of the Colonial Era and the

division of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Empire of Japan, Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allies of World War II, Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached ...

, the won was introduced to replace the

Korean yen The Korean yen was the currency of Korea between 1910 and 1945. It was equivalent to the Japanese yen and consisted of Japanese currency and banknotes issued specifically for Korea. The yen was subdivided into 100 sen. It replaced the Korean ...

. The first banknotes were issued by the

Bank of Joseon A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

until 1950, when the currency management switched to the

Bank of Korea The Bank of Korea (BOK; ) is the central bank of the Republic of Korea and issuer of Korean Republic won. It was established on 12 June 1950 in Seoul, South Korea. The bank's primary purpose is price stability. For that, the bank targets in ...

. At the time of its introduction in 1945 the won was pegged to the

at a rate of ''1 won = 1 yen''. In October of the same year the anchor currency was changed to the

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

at a rate of ''15 won = 1 dollar''. Toward the end of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

the won was devalued at ''6000 won = 1 dollar''. Following that the hwan was introduced as the new currency at a rate of ''1 hwan = 100 won''.

Coin

The 1 jeon coin was the only coin in circulation in South Korea at the time. It was not issued by the Bank of Joseon but by the Japanese government as subsidiary money.

Banknotes

Bank of Joseon issued notes

The won was subdivided into 100 ''jeon''. Only banknotes were issued. Initially, the won was issued by Bank of Joseon with a similar design to the older notes of the Japanese occupation period. However, there were two subtle and important differences. The new notes replaced the

paulownia ''Paulownia'' ( ) is a genus of seven to 17 species of hardwood tree (depending on taxonomic authority) in the family Paulowniaceae, the order Lamiales. They are present in much of China, south to northern Laos and Vietnam and are long cultivat ...

, the badge of the government of Japan, with the

Rose of Sharon Rose of Sharon is a name that has been applied to several different species of flowering plants that are valued in different parts of the world. It is also a biblical expression, though the identity of the plant referred to is unclear and is dis ...

, South Korea's national flower; and the clause about exchangeability with the

was removed.

Bank of Korea issued notes

On June 12, 1950, the

was established and assumed the duties of Bank of Joseon. The Bank of Joseon's notes were still kept in circulation as not all denominations were replaced by the Bank of Korea's notes.

References

External links

Bank of Korea, ''1950-1953 banknotes''Bank of Korea, ''A Brief History of Korean Currency''Bank of Korea, ''Currency Issue System''
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Korean won (1945-1953) Currencies of South Korea Modern obsolete currencies 1945 in South Korea 1945 establishments in Korea 1953 disestablishments in South Korea Economic history of South Korea