South Korea recalled a large amount of ineligible coins for circulation, if stacked they would be taller than the legendary Mount Everest.
Only in the first half of 2022, South Korea destroyed about 200 million dong (including banknotes and coins) due to damage, unqualified for circulation. According to a report on the recovery and destruction of damaged currency released by the Bank of Korea on August 8, the total amount of money damaged in the first 6 months of the year was 191.6 million bills with a total value of up to 191.6 million bills. 1.56 trillion won. If these bills are joined together, their total length reaches 24,765km, 30 times longer than the Gyeongbu Expressway (415km). And if stacked on top of each other, they will reach 53,459m high, 6 times higher than Mount Everest (8849m). In fact, the current Mount Everest has decreased in height with the former by about 2.4 cm, due to an earthquake in Nepal in May 2015. Everest is also known as Thanh Mau Phong or Chomolungma, it is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet (China).
Huge amount of damage
Out of a total of 169.43 million won of banknotes destroyed, the 10,000 won coin accounted for the highest proportion, (54.9%). Among the total number of coins destroyed, the 10 won coin accounted for the highest proportion with 42.9%. Even so, the amount of money destroyed in the first half of this year was down 14.1% year-on-year due to delayed recovery by banks.
Lots of different coins recovered
Some typical examples of exchange and recovery of damaged banknotes: 18.47 million won of banknotes damaged by a fire at the warehouse of Mr. Bae who lives in Kyungnam; 289.5 million won of banknotes got wet from being stored in a potted plant by Mr. Kim living in Daegu, and 2.25 million won of banknotes got moldy from being placed under Mr. Yang’s floor mats in Busan.
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