  the won () (symbol: â©; code: krw) is the currency of south korea. a single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. the jeon is no longer used for everyday transactions, and appears only in foreign exchange rates. the won is issued by the bank of korea, based in the capital city, seoul. the official currency of north korea, issued by the central bank of the democratic people's republic of korea which is based in its capital city, pyongyang, is divided into the same number of units, and is known as the north korean won. ==etymology==  the old "won" was a cognate of the chinese yuan and japanese yen. it is derived from the hanja (ì), itself a cognate of the chinese character å (yuan) which means "round shape." the won was subdivided into 100 jeon (), itself a cognate of the chinese character é¢ (qian) which means "money" and also used as a unit of money in the ancient times. the current won (1962 to present) is written in hangul only. ==first south korean won==  =
1962_establishments_in_South_Korea 1962_in_South_Korea Circulating_currencies Currencies_of_Asia Currencies_of_Korea Finance_in_South_Korea Government_of_South_Korea