KOREA _ NORTH

The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea)is a country in the northern half of the Korean peninsula between the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) with it's capital city of Pyongyang. The Japanese annexed the peninsula in 1910 and occupied it until their defeat after WWII when Us troops occupied the south and Soviet troops occupied the north. In 1943 the Cairo conference declared that Korea should be "free and independent" but the Potsdam Conference  had to impose a line on the 38th parallel to divide the  two occupying forces. In august 1948 South korea declared itself the republic of Korea and then 10 days later the north declared itself the DPRK.

Monetary unit: 1 Won = 100 Chon

The notes above are the 50 won and 5 won notes. The 50 won note from 1992 has workers on the front with the monument to the 5 year plan in the centre left and a pine Forrest scene on the reverse.
The 5 won note from 1998 and has students on the front and a modern building on the back.

The Korean language is written in Hangul and historically in Hanja