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By Yoon Ja-young
Starting next month, it'll be harder to get crisp new banknotes even if one goes to the central bank.
The Bank of Korea announced that it will give out brand new banknotes only on special occasions such as Chuseok and Lunar New Year holidays or when replacing banknotes unsuitable for use due to severe damage or contamination. Demand for new banknotes soars especially during holidays as it is customary to offer pristine bills as gifts.
Even on these occasions, there will be daily limits on how many new banknotes each person can receive. It is expected to set a daily limit of between 500,000 won and 1 million won per person. The daily limit will vary from region to region.
The central bank explained that the measure is aimed at cutting the costs of minting. According to the bank, 79.6 percent of the banknotes that were brought in for exchange were only gently used and still suitable for further use. Eighty-nine percent of bills that the bank gave out for exchange, meanwhile, were new ones, which led to criticism that the obsession with new bills is incurring too high a social cost. The cost of minting totaled 111.4 billion won in 2020, surging from 99.3 billion won the previous year.
