This week, North Korea’s central bank began replacing the country’s highest denomination currency unit: the 5,000 won. After paying visits to the Korean Central Bank to make their own exchanges, Daily NKsources in the borderland confirmed the appearance of the replacement bill: On the front, an image of the house at Mangyongdae in Pyongyang where the government claims, seemingly falsely, that Kim Il Sung was born, and on the back the cavernous International Friendship Exhibition complex at Mt. Myohang, where gifts bestowed upon Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are stored and displayed.
Ergo, there is no likeness of Kim Il Sung, the nation’s founder, on the newest incarnation of its money.
This week, North Korea’s central bank began replacing the country’s highest denomination currency unit: the 5,000 won. After paying visits to the Korean Central Bank to make their own exchanges, Daily NKsources in the borderland confirmed the appearance of the replacement bill: On the front, an image of the house at Mangyongdae in Pyongyang where the government claims, seemingly falsely, that Kim Il Sung was born, and on the back the cavernous International Friendship Exhibition complex at Mt. Myohang, where gifts bestowed upon Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are stored and displayed.
Ergo, there is no likeness of Kim Il Sung, the nation’s founder, on the newest incarnation of its money.
Christopher Green is a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands and heads up the Korean Peninsula work of the International Crisis Group (ICG). Christopher was formerly Manager of International Affairs at the Daily NK.