From NK Border: Supernotes, Defacto Currency of N. Korea(Truly Bizzare Development)

The Daily NK ^ | 07/31/06 | Kwon Jung-hyun & Shin Ju-hyun

[TigerLikesRooster]

/begin my excerpt

From NK Border: Supernotes, Defacto Currency of N. Korea

"Hyperinflation,... payment in Supernotes"

[2006-07-31 12:11]

 food section at No.1 Dept. Store in Pyongyang

Recently, 100-dollar Supernotes are circulated as defacto currency (of N. Korea) among merchants, which is a shocking development.

Until now, Supernotes have been inserted among genuine dollar bills when some trading outfits and drug smugglers make their payment in China and other places, but now they are used as unofficial means of payment at N. Korean markets.

Some N. Korean merchants  started to use Supernotes(nominal value: 100 dollars) as '70 dollar bill' early this year, and this trend is spreading over the entire country. The counterfeit dollars have become defacto currency.

Chinese engaged in business with N. Korea, ethnic Korean businessmen(in China,) and ethnic Chinese in N. Korea all attested to this fact.

Park Chol-woong(alias, age:43), an ethnic Korean businessman (trading with N. Korea,) whom we met in Dandong, China on July 26, remarked, "It has been a while since the counterfeit dollars were used as defacto currency inside N. Korea. Merchants are now using Supernotes as means of payment."

He went on, "Even if you purchase only 1,000 dollars worth of goods, you have to bring 600 of 5,000-Won bill(the highest unit currency in N. Korea.) (Note: as of July, 1 USD = 2950 NK Won.) It is much easier to use the fake dollars."

He continues, "Merchants do not accept N. Korean currency, because they do not trust it. If price rises a few dozen fold  overnight as in 2002, they would lose most of what they earn. If you have dollars, you can do anything, but the real dollar is scarce. That is why they use the fake dollars." 

Those merchants all grumbled that the value N. Korean currency fell so sharply that they have to carry several bags of currency to buy and sell at markets. They complained, "Everyday we wake up (in the morning,) we see price rising again. The more we do business in N. Korean currency, the more we lose money."

a sample of N. Korean Supernote issued in 2003 (was obtained by The Daily NK, and verified by Korea Exchange Bank) 

/end my excerpt

 

Kwon Jung-hyun from Dandong, China 

 

Shin Ju-hyun 

[TigerLikesRooster]

Counterfeit dollar bills, printed for use overseas, have now pushed out N. Korea's official currency and taken its place. This would be the first time in history, as far as I know, that fake foreign currency produced in a country turned into its defacto currency.

Imagine Soviet Union printed massive amount of 100-dollar bills and Soviet citizens use them as their defacto currency, ignoring Rubles. N. Korea is trailblazing for sure.:)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[fishtank]

Ronery North Korean currency?

[EagleUSA]

Another testimony to how well communism works...in a way, a perverse compliment to the USA... :-)

[bk1000]

If I am not mistaken, counterfiting the currency of another country is an act of war.

[mvpel]

"Real" US notes are backed "by the full faith and credit of the United States," or in other words, what they can tax out of us and our grandchildren.

The North Korean notes are backed by even less.

So, what's the real difference for North Koreans, anyway?

[Gay State Conservative]

I saw a documentary on counterfeiting that said that there are fake $100 bills that are so realistic that they had to be made on very expensive printing presses from,I think it was,Switzerland.It went on to say that the whole process was sophisticated enough that it had to be done by a country and they mentioned NK specifically.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #7

The only part NK cannot master, according to what I heard, is to produce the paper used for the said dollar bills. So instead, they use one dollar-bill and erase the content on the surface and print one-hundred dollar over it.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #5

Technically, we are still at war with N. Korea. All we has was a ceasefire treaty.

[denydenydeny]

Can't sugarcoat this, it's an act of war.

[VanShuyten]

This is the currency of a true underground economy. NK currency comes from the government, so they know who has it, where it is spent and how much tax is paid. Once the bogus US bills enter the economy, there is no way to trace any of those.

[Still Thinking]

Where do the bills come from and how is the supply controlled? US currency of the generation pictured isn't child's play to counterfeit, so it has to be the government or some sophisticated entity doing it, and what are they getting in exchange?

If it's the government doing it, then how is this not just official NK currency that just happens to look like US (except for the opportunity to take it outside NK and use it as US)?

[Gay State Conservative]

Actually,I'm surprised that sophisticated counterfeiters don't go for the 100 and 500 euro notes,particularly the 500...which is worth almost $600.That is,unless it's more difficult to copy than our notes.

For that matter,I'm surprised that drug runners,terrorists and the Mob don't go for it too.

[John Carey]

In the old Soviet Union there would be a sign in every store reading "RUBLES ONLY!" But if you offered US greebacks you;d get a big discount! :)

[MeanWestTexan]

How do they get that little plastic stripe?

[quack]

Wonder if there's any connection to this?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1672451/posts

[green iguana]

they use one dollar-bill and erase the content on the surface and print one-hundred dollar over it.

But then the bill wouldn't have either the watermark or the inserted $100 thread in it. I supposed the watermark could be faked somehow, but inserting the thread after manufacture couldn't be done.

[WoofDog123]

DPRK is notorious for producing bulk quantities of very high-quality counterfeits. it is a big export for them.

[Thombo2]

Iran is also suspected of producing high quality bogus US currency.

[alloysteel]

The real difference for the North Koreans is, that they have the full faith and credit of Madeleine Albright, and once a Dem'crat lands back in the White House, the counterfeit notes will be accepted and exchanged for genuine US currency at full face value.

This is not as far-fetched as some might think it would be at first blush. Think of the pressure it takes off the printing of our own notes in this country.

You KNOW the first thing that will happen when the Dem'crat agenda gets enacted is to monetize all the new debt that will be created. Get in early, before the rush!

Oh, yeah. And like FDR did in 1933, the ownership of gold will be outlawed. You use our green stamps, or nothing.