North Korea produced distinct coin sets in the early 1970s for foreign visitors, separated deliberately from domestic circulation coinage. The "socialist visitor" designation — as opposed to the parallel "capitalist visitor" issues — determined which currency foreigners from allied Soviet-bloc nations received when exchanging money upon entry. The two streams were not interchangeable domestically, functioning as a crude but effective mechanism for tracking and controlling foreign exchange within the country.
KM#10 belongs to that segregated tourist currency infrastructure, which remained in use until the won reform of the late 1970s rendered the distinctions increasingly unworkable.
North Korea produced distinct coin sets in the early 1970s for foreign visitors, separated deliberately from domestic circulation coinage. The "socialist visitor" designation — as opposed to the parallel "capitalist visitor" issues — determined which currency foreigners from allied Soviet-bloc nations received when exchanging money upon entry. The two streams were not interchangeable domestically, functioning as a crude but effective mechanism for tracking and controlling foreign exchange within the country.
KM#10 belongs to that segregated tourist currency infrastructure, which remained in use until the won reform of the late 1970s rendered the distinctions increasingly unworkable.