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50 Chon Socialist Visitor
| Issuer | Foreign Trade Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1988 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in shades of rose and lilac on a fine wave-line underprint, dominated by a large central guilloche rosette enclosing the numeral '50' in intaglio. The National Coat of Arms of the DPRK appears as a vignette in the upper right corner, flanked by the issuer's name in Korean script and the date '1988' below. A serial number in Hangul prefix and Arabic numerals is positioned at the lower left, with the Korean denomination '오십전' rendered in bold type at the lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 외화와바꾼돈표 조선민주주의인민공화국 무역은행 1988 50 오십전 (Translation: Foreign currency exchange, Foreign Trade Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Fifty Chon) |
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| Comments |
North Korea ran a parallel currency system for decades, issuing separate notes for foreign visitors to prevent hard currency from mixing with the domestic won supply. This 50 Chon is part of the "socialist visitor" series — a distinction that mattered, since notes issued to visitors from capitalist countries carried different color coding and were not interchangeable at the same rate. The Foreign Trade Bank administered the system, which effectively let the state capture foreign exchange while keeping ordinary citizens entirely insulated from it.
The series was abolished in the early 2000s as the system became increasingly unworkable following the economic collapses of the 1990s.