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Message:: [QUOTE="mlov43, post: 5135911, member: 16729"][ATTACH=full]1205052[/ATTACH] South Korea issued the 100-Won coin in 1970, when it replaced a banknote of the same denomination.  This First Series 100-Won was minted from 1970-1982.  The image on its obverse was that of Admiral Yi Sun-shin (April 28, 1545 – December 16, 1598), the winner of many naval victories against the invading Japanese during the "Imjin War" of 1592-1598.  He was killed in one of the final battles.  The image of Admiral Yi was based on a design created by the Korean Mint's design team.  Two Korean Mint designers are cited in the literature:  Kang Bak and Park Kang-jeong. [ATTACH]1205059[/ATTACH]The First Series (top) and Second Series (bottom).  The Second Series coin's image of Admiral Yi is based on Jang's official state portrait. (click image to view larger version) In 1983, the Korean government redesigned the currency and coins in circulation to standardize their appearances and sizes to make them more adaptable to changes in money-handling automation (ATMs, cash registers). This caused a re-configuration of the 100-Won's main device featuring Admiral Yi. The designers of this new "Second Series" coin, Lee Ye-soo and Park Chang-sik, based their design on the official state portrait painted by Jang Woo-Seong in 1953.  This painting is more than a painting, and is referred to in Korean as a "yeong-jeong."   A "yeong-jeong" is actually considered the "personage" of the individual painted, so it's sort of an icon, I guess, not just a painting. [ATTACH]1205053[/ATTACH] Artist Jang Woo-seong's "yeong-jeong" of Admiral Yi (click image to view larger version) The image of Admiral Yi on the 100-Won coin will now be redesigned because, according to Korean Media, Jang Woo-seong was listed in the 친일인명사전 (Pro-Japanese Dictionary) in 2009 for submitting art at two art exhibitions in the 1940s. Of course, Japan was in charge at the time.  In 2009, the government did not take action against Jang's work(s). [ATTACH=full]1205055[/ATTACH] Some examples of Jang's amazing work.  The painting on the right depicts the famous anti-Japanese activist, Ryu Gwansun (aka Yu Kwan-sun) who died under torture in 1920. Now that the Ministry of Culture is staffed by the people brought in by South Korea's current left-wing president, Moon Jae-in, they are going to "de-list" the artist Jang Woo-seong's icon-painting ("yeong-jeong") of Admiral Yi. The entire charge against the artist, Jang, from what I have gotten by looking and looking over Korean media reports, is that he is accused of exhibiting art during the era of "Japanese Korea (1905-ish to 1945)."  Exhibiting at major exhibitions was (and I think STILL is) the ONLY way for a painter to develop his/her career. I guess President Moon's people of 2020 expect him to have known better than to have done that back in 1943(?). [ATTACH=full]1205058[/ATTACH] Jang Woo-seong (월전 장우성) June 22, 1912 ~ February 28, 2005 That is literally the reason why his painting is getting canceled and now the 100-Won coin is getting reworked. Not just the 100-Won. Also the 50,000-Won, 10,000-Won, and 5,000-Won banknotes.  Changing the banknotes alone will cost around 422M USD of the taxpayers' money.  The notes are changing for the same reasons: The portrait artists whose images were used to place famous Koreans on these notes had also developed their careers when Japan ran Korea. These artists did not swear oaths to the Japanese Emperor, served in the Japanese military (at least, not voluntarily), nor do anything that other Koreans clearly had done that showed outright support for Japan.  Not from what I have found, anyway. In other words, from what I can gather, these artists are essentially guilty of being alive at the wrong time.  This is why their artwork is being removed from South Korea's currency and the 100-Won coin. If I am wrong about any of this, I will happily take correction.  Please comment below.[/QUOTE]

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