Bank of Korea's 'Miscellaneous Income'... Earned 16.6 Billion Won by Selling Damaged Coins

Discarded coins sold are melted and exported overseas
"Sale of discarded coins is meaningful from a recycling perspective"

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has been selling coins that are damaged by fire or contaminated, generating annual sales of at least several hundred million won.

Contaminated and Fire-Damaged Coins Melted and Exported... Over 16.6 Billion Won in Revenue Over 10 Years

The appearance of withdrawn coins. [Photo provided by Bank of Korea]

According to data submitted by the BOK to Seo Young-kyo, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party, the proceeds from the sale of discarded coins last year amounted to 3.49 billion won.

The annual proceeds from the sale of discarded coins were ▲560 million won in 2013 ▲520 million won in 2014 ▲500 million won in 2015 ▲570 million won in 2016 ▲1.37 billion won in 2017 ▲470 million won in 2018 ▲1.1 billion won in 2019 ▲660 million won in 2020.

In 2021, the amount even reached 7.4 billion won.

Over the past 10 years, the total proceeds from sales reached 16.64 billion won. This was recorded as 'miscellaneous income' in the BOK's income statement.

The BOK classifies coins that have been withdrawn from circulation and deemed difficult to use again due to damage, contamination, or scorching (damaged by fire) as discarded coins.

Some of these discarded coins are sold to Poongsan, a company specializing in non-ferrous metal production, which melts the coins made of nickel and copper alloys and exports them.

Increase in Coin Volume Accumulated at BOK Leads to Growth in Discarded Coins... "Coin Sales Have Significance in Terms of Recycling"

Seo Young-kyo, Democratic Party of Korea member. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The volume of such discarded coins has been increasing every year.

As the use of simple payments via smartphones spreads, the use of coins in circulation has decreased, resulting in more coins being collected than issued, causing the volume of coins accumulated in the BOK vault to continue to rise.

In the first half of this year, 31 million coins were classified as discarded coins, with a face value of 4.2 billion won. Last year, there were 56 million coins with a face value of 8.2 billion won.

Assembly member Seo said, "Selling coins that are no longer used is meaningful from a resource recycling perspective," and emphasized, "Proper currency management considering the recycling of discarded coins accumulated in the vault and bank revenue is necessary."