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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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 Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:40 am Post subject: Korean Currency |
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This is a general discussion that I want to start with a topic that I obtained from a news article.
I would like to hear people's opinions on both (1) whether they think Korea needs larger denominations and if so, what denominations, and (2) is Korea so traditional that the government only promotes the image of a "good housewife," if so, is this an accurate representation of choices Korean women have in terms of employment.
Here is the article that motivated these questions:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61058
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Controversial 50,000-won bill will begin circulation in South Korea in June
By Hwang Hae-rym and Karen Willenbrecht, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, March 2, 2009
A billfold bursting with Benjamins can make you look like a rock star, but sitting on a fat stack of low-value bills is just a pain in the � you know.
In South Korea, where the highest denomination of bank note is the 10,000-won bill � worth around $6.50 on Friday � a night out on the town means a wallet stuffed to the seams. Paying your rent by cash? Better bring an armored car.
But the weighty situation will improve in June, when the Bank of Korea begins circulating 50,000-won notes.
The bank unveiled the final design of the new bill on Wednesday. It will be slightly longer than the 10,000-won note and predominantly yellow.
The new bill has been in the works for some time but has been delayed by controversy. Proponents argued that Korean currency hadn�t kept pace with rising prices and incomes in the country, but opponents of large bills feared they could lead to increased corruption, spiraling costs and excessive spending.
Those concerns forced Bank of Korea to scuttle a proposed 100,000-won note.
The portrait on the new bill is another source of ongoing controversy. The bank selected Shin Saim-dang � a renowned writer, artist and calligrapher and mother of Lee Yulgok, a scholar whose face is on the 5,000-won bill. She is the first woman to be featured on Korean currency.
Bank of Korea officials said she was selected for her talent and because she embodied the cultural ideals of being dutiful to her parents, devoted to her husband, and dedicated to educating her children. But not all Koreans are happy with the choice.
Um Wu-joo, 21, a college student majoring musical composition, was critical.
"I don�t really understand why she is picked up," she said. "Who on earth made this choice? There is no doubt that she is a great figure, but she is not well matched to the modern age. She is just a symbolic figure of a good wife and wise mother." |
So, what do you think? |
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asams
Joined: 17 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:03 am Post subject: |
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| I definitely believe they need larger denominations, but I think a 20,000 note would've been the logical next step. I'm not about to go into a store to buy a coke or something with a 50,000 note. |
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RyanInKorea
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:16 am Post subject: |
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I have to agree on both accounts with Asams. A larger bill is definitely needed, but a 20,000 won bill would have been a little wiser. Most stores in Canada don't accept anything higher than a $20 due to contefeiting. Most people don't even use the $50 or $100.
I am not touching the other question.
Ryan |
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asams
Joined: 17 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:05 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I purposely stayed away from the other question, too. |
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semi-fly
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:47 am Post subject: |
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"The bank unveiled the final design of the new bill on Wednesday. It will be slightly longer than the 10,000-won note and predominantly yellow."
Am I to understand that the new bill will be longer than all other currency or is it simply referring to the person portrait on the bill itself? If so shouldn't all currency be the same size?
As for the second question, there is no way of knowing for sure beyond the official statement why the woman was chosen. Do we know of any other person that was considered for the note? Do we know of a committee that spent month and month going around polling for ideas on who the people wanted on their money? |
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:52 am Post subject: |
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| They need to phase out the really small coins like 10 and 50 won and bring in a quarter. I doubt you could mint a 10won coin for less than 10won. 100won coins are slightly ridiculous too. I payed my gas bill with a bag full of 100won coins the other day. Ludicrous. |
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madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:34 am Post subject: |
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| semi-fly wrote: |
| Am I to understand that the new bill will be longer than all other currency or is it simply referring to the person portrait on the bill itself? If so shouldn't all currency be the same size? |
Perhaps they made the bill a different size for blind people. |
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semi-fly
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:46 am Post subject: |
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| madoka wrote: |
| semi-fly wrote: |
| Am I to understand that the new bill will be longer than all other currency or is it simply referring to the person portrait on the bill itself? If so shouldn't all currency be the same size? |
Perhaps they made the bill a different size for blind people. |
That would be an interesting idea, but seems unlikely. I would have to wonder if any country is that considerate for their visually impaired citizens. |
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madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| semi-fly wrote: |
That would be an interesting idea, but seems unlikely. I would have to wonder if any country is that considerate for their visually impaired citizens. |
Make that more than 100 countries:
"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations," Robertson wrote in his ruling. "More than 100 of the other issuers vary their bills in size according to denomination, and every other issuer includes at least some features that help the visually impaired."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,232503,00.html |
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asams
Joined: 17 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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this is true. in japan the bills are different sizes.
i think most of us are going to have a biased view, because we're used to our own denominations - it makes sense to make it different sizes, it doesn't really make sense to jump from a 10,000 won note to something as large as a 50,000 won note. A 30,000 won note would even have been better |
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Chamchiman
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Location: Digging the Grave
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:05 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Currency |
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| sojusucks wrote: |
(2) is Korea so traditional that the government only promotes the image of a "good housewife," if so, is this an accurate representation of choices Korean women have in terms of employment.
| Quote: |
The portrait on the new bill is another source of ongoing controversy. The bank selected Shin Saim-dang � a renowned writer, artist and calligrapher and mother of Lee Yulgok, a scholar whose face is on the 5,000-won bill. She is the first woman to be featured on Korean currency.
Bank of Korea officials said she was selected for her talent and because she embodied the cultural ideals of being dutiful to her parents, devoted to her husband, and dedicated to educating her children. But not all Koreans are happy with the choice. |
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I teach the teachers at my public school. I asked them - six or seven women (all educated, some married with kids, some single career women) - whether they thought Shin Saim-dang was a "good choice". To a woman, they all said it wasn't. They all thought that a dutiful mother wasn't an appropriate image for modern women. "Old men chose it," they said.
My next question was, "Then, if not her, who should be on the new 50,000?" and interestingly, nobody had an answer. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:44 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Currency |
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| Chamchiman wrote: |
| My next question was, "Then, if not her, who should be on the new 50,000?" and interestingly, nobody had an answer. |
Perhaps, they were all thinking of a group image of the Wonder Girls. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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I seriously think it should be Park Kyung-ni. She wrote the Great Korean Novel, Toji (Land), an epic inspired by her visit to Hadong, where an annual Literary Festival is held in her honour. Her hometown of Tongyeong also has a cultural centre built in her memory. She dies last summer and is considered one of the greats of Korean literature.
(If it would be Lee Hyori I'd find it much easier to save money.  ) |
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jackson7
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: Kim Jong Il's Future Fireball
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| semi-fly wrote: |
| madoka wrote: |
| semi-fly wrote: |
| Am I to understand that the new bill will be longer than all other currency or is it simply referring to the person portrait on the bill itself? If so shouldn't all currency be the same size? |
Perhaps they made the bill a different size for blind people. |
That would be an interesting idea, but seems unlikely. I would have to wonder if any country is that considerate for their visually impaired citizens. |
The differently-textured yellow lines and dots on sidewalks and walkways aren't for the deaf. Don't see those much back in the States. |
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