The old "won" was a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen, which were both derived from the Spanish-American silver dollar.

It is derived from the hanja 圓 (원, won), meaning "round", which describes the shape of the silver dollar.

The won was subdivided into 100 jeon (Korean: 전; Hanja: 錢; MR: chŏn), itself a cognate of the East Asian unit of weight mace and synonymous with money in general.

[3][4] The Korean won, Chinese yuan and Japanese yen were all derived from the Spanish-American silver dollar, a coin widely used for international trade between Asia and the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries.

After World War II ended in 1945, Korea was divided, resulting in two separate currencies, both called won, for the South and the North.

As an attempt to further reduce currency production costs, new 5 and 10 won coins were issued in 1970, struck in brass.

[8] The Bank of Korea announced in early 2006 its intention to redesign the 10 won coin by the end of that year.

[13] The new coin is made of copper-coated aluminium with a reduced diameter of 18 millimetres (0.71 in), and a weight of 1.22 grams (0.043 oz).

The series numbers are expressed with Korean letters used in alphabetical order, e.g. 가, 나, 다, 라, 마, 바, 사.

[8] With the economic development from the 1960s, the value of the 500 won notes fell, resulting in a greater use of cashier's checks with higher fixed denominations as means of payment, as well as an increased use of counterfeited ones.

Some of the notes' most notable features were distinguishable marks for the blind under the watermark and the addition of machine-readable language in preparation for mechanization of cash handling.

They were also printed on better-quality cotton pulp to reduce the production costs by extending their circulation life.

[8] To cope with the deregulation of imports of color printers and the increasing use of computers and scanners, modified 5,000 and 10,000 won notes were released between 1994 and 2002 with various new security features, which included color-shifting ink, microprint, segmented metal thread, moiré, and EURion constellation.

The obverse bears a portrait of Shin Saimdang, a prominent 16th-century artist, calligrapher, and mother of Korean scholar Yulgok, also known as Yi I, who is on the 5,000 won note.

[24] New 100,000 won notes were also announced, but their release was later cancelled due to the controversy over the banknote's planned image, featuring the Daedongyeojido map, and not including the disputed Dokdo islands.

Many modern security features that can be also found in euros, pounds, Canadian dollars, and Japanese yen are included in the banknotes.

The Bank of Korea began a trial which would result in the total cessation of the production of coins by depositing change into prepaid cards.

While proponents cite a more valuable currency unit better projects the strength of the nation's economy, a majority remain opposed to the idea.