Bank of Korea: "Last Year, 403.52 Million Canceled Banknotes... Equivalent to 241 Times Lotte World Tower"

Expansion of Contactless Transactions Due to Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jung] Last year, the Bank of Korea destroyed a total of 403.52 million damaged currency notes.

According to the Bank of Korea on the 4th, the amount of damaged currency notes determined and destroyed in 2021 was 403.52 million notes, amounting to 2.0423 trillion won. This represents a decrease of 239.04 million notes (-37.2%) compared to the 642.56 million notes in 2020.

Damaged currency refers to currency that has been returned to the Bank of Korea through financial institutions and, after the currency sorting process, is judged to be damaged due to deterioration or contamination and is subsequently destroyed. The total includes banknotes (notes) and coins (pieces), with the unit unified as 'notes' for convenience.

Among the destroyed damaged currency, banknotes centered on 10,000-won and 1,000-won bills accounted for 344.19 million notes (2.0366 trillion won). Coins centered on 100-won and 10-won coins accounted for 59.33 million pieces (5.73 billion won) destroyed.

If the destroyed currency were laid out end to end, the total length would be 50,262 km, which is equivalent to about 60 round trips on the Gyeongbu Expressway (416 km). The total height stacked would be 133,967 meters, 15 times the height of Mount Everest and 241 times the height of Lotte World Tower.

The amount of destroyed banknotes was 344.19 million, with the breakdown by denomination as follows: 1,000-won notes (46.4%) were the most, followed by 10,000-won notes (45.1%), 5,000-won notes (7.3%), and 50,000-won notes (1.1%).

A Bank of Korea official explained, "The amount destroyed decreased compared to the same period last year due to sluggish banknote returns amid the development of non-cash payment methods and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an increase in non-face-to-face transactions, as well as the impact of strengthened social distancing measures."

The amount of destroyed coins was 59.33 million, with the breakdown by coin type as follows: 100-won coins (65.1%), 10-won coins (21.4%), 50-won coins (8.5%), and 500-won coins (5.0%).

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