The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20060115054525/http://times.hankooki.com:80/lpage/biz/200601/kt2006011318125411870.htm

    Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Biz/Finance


  New W10 Coin to Debut


By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said on Friday it is considering issuing new 10-won coins, using different material to the old ones.

The bank uses copper and zinc to manufacture the 10-won coin. Since the coin was first released in 1966, manufacturing costs have soared 15 times because of surging copper and zinc prices. The bank now spends 38 won to make one 10-won coin.

The move follows reports that some people in Taejon melt 10-won coins to extract the cooper and zinc, to produce accessories for sale.

The bank said it is considering changing the material used in the 10-won coin and make its size smaller to lower the manufacturing costs.

Currently, there are no legal means to punish those who have destroyed banknotes and coins, although forgers are dealt with harshly. The bank said it is cooperating with related agencies to tackle the problem.

The central bank is now changing the designs of banknotes and introducing improved anti-forgery features for the new notes. It released new 5,000-won banknotes on Jan. 2 and plans to issue new 1,000-won and 10,000-won bills early next year. The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation stopped printing the old notes late last year.

The bank said it will unveil the design of a new 1,000-won note this month.


jj@koreatimes.co.kr

01-13-2006 18:12


 
¢¸ Back ¡ãTop