Quick Contact
Code KRW
Symbol ₩
Coins
₩1, ₩5, ₩10, ₩50, ₩100, ₩500
Banknotes
₩1000, ₩5000, ₩10000, ₩50000
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Budget planning tool
Punch in your holiday deets in the tool below to help you plan your spending money.
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No commission
On foreign exchange rates when you order with Travel Money NZ.
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Pick up locally
With over 20 convenient store locations across New Zealand, you can securely pick up your South Korean Won with no hassles.
Planning your trip to South Korea
We get it, doing your holiday budget is a snore fest. It's important though, so we've made it super easy for you to do now. Just punch in your holiday deets and we'll combine destination spend data with our exchange rates so you know how much to take. Easy peasy budget donesy!
About the currency
Coins and notes
Coins in South Korea range through ₩1, ₩5, ₩10, ₩50, ₩100 and ₩500, before the banknotes take over. They’ll each buy you ₩1,000, ₩5,000, ₩10,000 and ₩50,000 worth of things. The won is one of the only currencies in the world where the smallest distributed unit of currency is 50,000x smaller than the largest.
Facts about the currency
- One tip: Make sure you declare anything above KRW 8,000,000 (or USD $10,000 total across any other currencies).
- You might not see it on your trip, but officially one ‘won’ is worth 100 ‘jeon’ – but given that would be such an outrageously small unit of currency, it’s very seldom mentioned (just like the word ‘seldom’).
- For a while the South Korean won was pegged to the US Dollar at 15 won per dollar, but on the right day a US dollar is now worth over 1,000 won!
- Changes made to South Korean banknotes in 2006 made them far tougher to counterfeit – the ₩50,000 note boasts a colossal 22 security features.
This chart shows how the New Zealand dollar has performed against the South Korean won in the past. Sign up for currency alerts and when the South Korean won is right where you want it, you’ll receive an alert. This way, you’ll get more bang for your buck – now that’s winning.