Last Year, 2.6 Trillion Won of Damaged Currency Destroyed... 233 Times the Height of Lotte World Tower

Damaged currency (Photo by Bank of Korea)

On the 17th, the Bank of Korea announced that it destroyed 412.68 million damaged banknotes last year. The amount corresponds to approximately 2.6414 trillion won.

According to the Bank of Korea, due to factors such as rising interest rates, the collection of banknotes increased, resulting in 9.15 million more destroyed banknotes (a 2.3% increase) compared to 403.52 million notes (2.0423 trillion won) the previous year.

If the destroyed banknotes were laid end to end, their total length would be 52,418 km, enough to travel back and forth on the Gyeongbu Expressway (415 km) about 63 times. The total height stacked would be 129,526 meters, which is 15 times the height of Mount Everest (8,849 m) and 233 times the height of Lotte World Tower (555 m).

The amount of destroyed banknotes was 356.71 million notes (2.6333 trillion won). By denomination, 10000-won notes accounted for 196.3 million (55.0%), 1000-won notes 129.2 million (36.2%), 5000-won notes 22.6 million (6.3%), and 50000-won notes 8.6 million (2.4%).

Compared to 344.19 million notes (2.0366 trillion won) the previous year, this is an increase of 12.53 million notes (3.6%).

The amount of destroyed coins was 55.96 million (8.2 billion won), with 10-won coins accounting for 19.4 million (34.7%), 100-won coins 18.9 million (33.8%), 500-won coins 11.5 million (20.6%), and 50-won coins 6.1 million (10.9%).

This is a decrease of 3.37 million coins (5.7%) compared to 59.33 million coins (5.7 billion won) the previous year.

When banknotes are damaged by fire or other causes and become unusable, if more than three-quarters of the surface area remains, the full face value is exchanged; if between two-fifths and three-quarters remains, half the value is exchanged.

The Bank of Korea destroys banknotes that are collected but deemed unsuitable for circulation due to damage or contamination. The unit for destroyed banknotes is standardized as "notes."