Burning and Running Washing Machines... 'Damaged Currency' Disposal Hits a 10-Year High

Bank of Korea Disposed of 640 Million Damaged Banknotes Last Year

Totaling 4.354 Trillion Won, the Largest Since 2009

[Asia Economy Reporter Shim Nayoung] Last year, the Bank of Korea disposed of the largest volume of currency in 10 years. According to the '2019 Mid-Year Damaged Currency Disposal and Exchange Scale' announced by the Bank of Korea on the 15th, the Bank disposed of 640 million damaged banknotes (4.354 trillion won) last year.

This is the largest amount since the 50,000 won bill was issued in 2009. Damaged currency refers to banknotes and coins that have been returned through financial institutions and collected at the Bank of Korea counters, then destroyed by automatic sorting machines or shredders. The unit is standardized as 'notes.'

Among these, 610 million banknotes (4.3516 trillion won) were disposed of. By denomination, the 10,000 won notes (330 million notes) accounted for the largest share (53.5% of disposed banknotes). They were followed by 1,000 won notes (230 million notes, 37.8%), 5,000 won notes (40 million notes, 6.7%), and 50,000 won notes (10 million notes, 2.0%). The disposed volume is equivalent to 114 five-ton trucks. If stacked individually, the total height would reach 65.2 km (117 times the height of Lotte World Tower, 24 times Baekdusan, and 7 times Mount Everest).

Coins disposed of amounted to 25.9 million (2.4 billion won). Among them, 10 won coins (11.1 million coins) accounted for the largest share (42.9% of disposed coins), followed by 100 won coins (9.9 million, 38.2%), 50 won coins (2.6 million, 10.1%), and 500 won coins (2.3 million, 8.8%).

The main causes of damage were improper storage such as being pressed under flooring or decay due to moisture, accounting for 60,600 notes (1.07 billion won); fire damage accounted for 51,700 notes (1.105 billion won); and careless handling such as washing or shredding accounted for 21,800 notes (390 million won).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.