Korean Coins and Bills Explained

한국 동전과 지폐에 대한 설명

✍️ Written and reviewed by a Korean native — Korean with Toon

📅 Published 2026-05-24

Korean money made simple: the coins (10, 50, 100, 500 won) and bills (1,000–50,000 won), what they look like, and how the won works.

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📖 Inside this lesson

💴 Korean Coins and Bills Explained 🇰🇷

Korean money looks confusing at first, but it's simple once you see it laid out. Everything uses one unit: 원 (won).

동전 (dong-jeon)

• 10원 (sip won) — 10 won • 50원 (o-sip won) — 50 won • 100원 (baek won) — 100 won • 500원 (o-baek won) — 500 won

Used for small payments, vending machines, and change.

지폐 (ji-pye)

• 1,000원 (cheon won) — 1,000 won • 5,000원 (o-cheon won) — 5,000 won • 10,000원 (man won) — 10,000 won • 50,000원 (o-man won) — 50,000 won

500원 and below are coins · 1,000원 and above are bills.

If you see an amount and aren't sure what it is, ask:

이게 뭐예요? (i-ge mwo-ye-yo) → "What is this?"

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💡 Learn these eight coins and bills and Korean money becomes easy. 💛