The central bank spent 63.9 billion won replacing the damaged banknotes over the one-year period. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Both the volume and face value of damaged banknotes and coins found in South Korea rose to record highs last year, data from the central bank showed Wednesday.
A record 627 million damaged bills and coins were discarded by the Bank of Korea (BOK) in 2018, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the BOK data.
Their combined face value was 4.26 trillion won (US$3.79 billion), up 13 percent on-year from 3.77 trillion won.
The central bank spent 63.9 billion won replacing the damaged banknotes over the one-year period.
Last year, damaged bills accounted for nearly all of the total, in terms of face value, while damaged coins only made up 2.3 billion won.
Of the total, 3.3 trillion won worth of 10,000 won bills were disposed of in 2018, while 50,000 won notes equal to 500 billion won were discarded.
(Yonhap)
