PMG Registry Featured Set: South Korea

Posted on 9/22/2026

As the Asian nation celebrates a major holiday that honors previous generations, we take a look at some of the currency they used.

Chuseok is celebrated this week in South Korea, an event that is compared to the American Thanksgiving holiday. An important aspect in Chuseok is family gathering to honor previous generations. Let's take a look at a spectacular PMG Registry set that goes back more than 75 years: CSKim's After Liberation set, which is 97% complete.



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This set leads 21 other competitors in the most popular South Korea category, South Korea Complete, Including Varieties, 1949-Date, P1-Date. It begins with the ND (1949) 5 Won note issued by the Bank of Chosen, which lingered only a few years after the era of Japanese occupation ended in 1945.



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The Bank of Chosen was replaced by the Bank of Korea in 1950, the same year the Korean War began. This 100 Hwan note is dated 4286 (1953 on the Gregorian calendar), the same year the Korean War ended with an armistice. The front shows Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea (from 1948 to 1960). The back shows Independence Gate in Seoul, which was built in 1898 to celebrate the achievement of autonomy from China. It is also depicted on the other two notes shown in this article.



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Finally, the back of this 1962 Won depicts Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, a banquet hall at the Gyeonghoeru palace in Seoul. The history of the site, which is designated a National Treasure, goes back centuries.

You can explore this PMG Registry set through its slideshow, which includes images of each of its 85 notes. Thank you, CSKim, for sharing this beautiful set with the PMG Registry community.

Winning sets for the 2026 PMG Registry Awards were announced at the ANA World’s Fair of Money! Check out all the winners here.

Thank you all for your continued support of the PMG Registry, the finest online collecting platform for paper money. The PMG Registry is a free online resource where collectors register and display their certified notes and can compete against other collectors around the world for recognition and prizes. This popular resource now boasts more than 2,000 users, more than 26,000 registered sets, and more than 150,000 registered notes.

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PMG Registry Featured Set: South Korea

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