Korea¡¯s banknotes will get a radical overhaul to curb rising forgery. The central bank plans to incorporate high-tech anti-forgery features including holograms, Bank of Korea officials announced Monday. In the process, the bills will also get smaller and feature new faces from the nation¡¯s history. The central bank is to discuss details of the proposed changes with the Finance and Economy Ministry soon.
The four historical figures currently pictured on the W500 coin and the W1000, W5000 and W10,000 notes are all male and from the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910). They are King Sejong, who created the Hangul or Korean alphabet, confucian scholars Yi Yi and Yi Hwang, and Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who defeated Japanese naval fleets during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea in the 1590s.
Women¡¯s rights groups have suggested including Yu Kwan-sun, a female independence fighter against Japanese colonial rule, and Shin Saim-dang, often seen as a model for Korean mothers. From the world of science, Chang Yong-sil, a scientist of the Chosun Dynasty, has been put forward.
"Incorporation of 19 high-tech anti-forgery devices including a hologram and color-changing ink will be seriously studied," Bank of Korea Governor Park Seung told parliamentary inspectors last year. The color tone of face value figures in Euro bills, for instance, changes from violet to light green.
Bills are expected to shrink to the size of U.S. dollar notes. The current W10,000 note is 161 mm x 76 mm, compared to notes of a roughly similar value like the 10 Euro note, which measures only 127mm x 67mm, and the 1,000 Yen note with 150mm x 76mm. Pending approval, the central bank also intends to issue higher denomination notes of W100,000.
(Lee Ji-hoon, jhl@chosun.com )
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