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 

[garyhope]

Fake bankrupt philosophy, fake country, fake leader, fake money.

The glory and reality of communism.

[USNBandit]

This has been going on for a very long time. It is one of the reasons the U.S. changed its currency

As with the former Soviet Union, one of the huge obstacles for communist countries to overcome is a lack of hard currency. They cannot trade with worthless commie money so they have to acquire hard currency.

There are four major ways the NK government gets hard currency. Exportation of ballistic missiles, the Japanese Pachinko industry (I'm not kidding), manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs, and printing counterfeit dollars. They have gone as far as to make their foreign embassies generate operating funds through drug trafficking, using diplomatic pouches to smuggle drugs.

[aculeus]

Gresham lives!

[KarlInOhio]

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.

The europeans did something smart. The larger denomination Euro bills are physically larger than the smaller denomination ones. That way you can't bleach a 5 Euro bill to get the paper to print a 500 Euro bill. And that's on top of their other security features like watermarks.

[reagan_fanatic]

[Nathan Zachary]

Maybe it's time North Koreans were introduced to monopoly money. They can also set up monopoly atms and use the British monopoly debt card.

[Thud]

I'll donate the money from my Monopoly game to help the starving North Koreans. We usually ate popcorn while playing so our Monopoly money might at least smell of butter.

[alloysteel]

The Monopoly game has gone hi-tech - there are now ATM cards available for those who wish not to handle large quantities of cash.

Cant wait to see the credit card version....

[gaijin]

very interesting post.

Thanks for your translation.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #16

Interesting.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Correction:

the value N. Korean currency --> the value of N. Korean currency

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If they print over a real lower denomination U.S. bill, the plastic thread will be in the wrong place (easily detected) or and have the wrong denomination (easily detected under a microscope), besides the watermark already noted.

This is a bad joke.

[toros]

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."

Boggle boggle (my mind talking to me)

[Panzerlied]

Why don't we just outsource the printing of our currency to North Korea. We might save some money that way. Heh, heh!

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you for the pings.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>that fake foreign currency produced in a country turned into its defacto currency


Too funny! That would be like the Quickstop gas station in Leesburg only taking Confederate script.

[B4Ranch]

When we change over to the Amero this counterfeiting in NK will be cited as one of the reasons why it is appropriate.