The Choson Sinbo, a North Korea mouthpiece published in Japan, on Friday published pictures of new bills and coins which the North is releasing in its latest currency reform. The large-denomination bills, such as those worth 5,000 and 2,000 won, bear the stamp "2008" on the upper left. Images of the 500, 200, 100, 50, 10 and 5 won bills and those on the back of 1 won, and 50, 10, 5 and 1 jeon coins bear the stamp "2002."
This suggests the North had already printed them well in advance of last week's shock announcement.
| Not surprising since the point of the currency 'reform' was to impoverish whoever in North Korea had managed to save a few bills. |
"It seems that the North printed the new bills and coins in 2002 when it implemented the July 1 economic reform plan, where it introduced a modicum of market capitalism, but decided not to circulate the new currency that year apparently due to runaway inflation," a source said. "And the North again apparently prepared for currency reform in 2008 by printing new large-denomination bills but postponed the reform because leader Kim Jong-il had a stroke." |