[2023 National Audit] "Let's Spend Money Cleanly"... 100 Million Won Spent Annually on Banknote Disposal

The Bank of Korea spends over 100 million won annually to burn and destroy severely damaged banknotes that can no longer be used.

According to data received on the 18th from the Bank of Korea by Seo Young-kyo, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the cost of burning discarded banknotes in the first half of this year reached 60 million won.

Seo Young-kyo, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking about 'President Yoon's offensive remarks' at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 23rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The annual costs for burning discarded banknotes were 110 million won in 2018, 130 million won in 2019, 160 million won in 2020, 110 million won in 2021, and 110 million won last year, exceeding 100 million won each year.

The Bank of Korea classifies banknotes that have been withdrawn from circulation but deemed unsuitable for reuse due to damage, contamination, or burning (disintegration by fire) as discarded banknotes.

These discarded banknotes are then shredded, compressed into currency waste, and mostly incinerated by paying fees to incineration companies.

Unlike discarded coins, which are sold to non-ferrous metal production specialists and generate annual sales of at least several hundred million won, discarded banknotes are simply disposed of at a cost.

Looking at the volume of discarded banknotes, there were 590 million notes in 2018, 614 million in 2019, 609 million in 2020, 344 million in 2021, and 357 million last year. This year, as of the first half, 212 million notes have been recorded.

In the past, discarded banknotes were recycled as fiber raw materials for making automotive noise barriers, but with the emergence of cheaper substitutes, recycling has become difficult. Representative Seo said, "It costs about 37.1 billion won to reissue the amount of banknotes discarded last year," adding, "Efforts are needed to use money cleanly and reduce currency waste as much as possible."

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