I noticed something peculiar on the ironclad turtle ship coins issued by North and South Korea. If you look at the North Korean ones, all of the turtle ships face right. Meanwhile, all of the South Korean ones face left. It's as if there's an unwritten rule that they both follow--that the turtle ships must be facing the opposing direction as their neighbor across the DMZ. Perhaps the symbolism is this: South Korea is facing left and is "moving towards the West", while the North Korea is facing the right and is "moving towards the East". Whatever the reason, it could help collectors in identifying which of the two Koreas minted the coin. @mlov43 Did you notice this and do you know anything about any stated reason behind this? Perhaps it's not on every single coin, but it appears to be on all of South Korea's coins (not sure about North korean coins). It's been going on like this for decades, so this practice appears to be passed on somehow (either internally or publicly somewhere). Here are some examples (photos from the 'net): North Korea (Right/East-facing) 1991 500 Won 1995 200 Won 2003 5 Won 2003 10 Won https://en.numista.com/catalogue/photos/coree_du_nord/881-original.jpg 2003 20 Won 2015 5 Won https://i.colnect.net/b/3763/209/5-Won-Turtle-Ship---1592-back.jpg South Korea (Left/West-facing) 1970 100 Won 1970 5,000 Won 1982 5 Won 1986 50,000 Won 1987 Medal 2020 5 Won
I noticed this too, but didn't give it much thought. Thanks for bringing it up, though! I am not aware that there is a "policy" on the part of currency authorities in South Korea (Republic of Korea) to orient the "direction of travel" of the 거북선 (Turtle Ship) one way or the other. Their Turtle Ship always travels to the left, though, doesn't it? All I know is this: South Korea put the Turtle Ship on its coins way before North Korea (DPRK) first did in 1991. I think that was the first time time the ship appeared on a DPRK coin. You'd have to confirm that, as I don't really follow North Korean numismatics closely. The Turtle Ship first appeared on South Korean banknotes in the 1940s/50s. Then it appeared for the first time on a Korean coin with the South Korean 50-Hwan coin issued in 1959: (click image to view larger) The only thing regarding the "direction of travel" that I know about that coin is this: When it was being designed, the U.S. Mint sculptors in Philadelphia thought that the flag on the ship in the Korean Mint's original sketches were fluttering the wrong way. The Koreans explained that the wind was blowing from behind, at the stern of the ship, making the flag flutter forward toward the bow of the ship. With this explanation, Gilroy Roberts proceeded with the engraving, and the result is what you see on this coin, above. Btw, you all are the first people to learn this (other than me!). I am currently writing and in-depth article on the U.S. Mint's work with South Korea in the 1950s and 60s based on the some files I found in the U.S. Archives... SO: Perhaps since this first image established South Korea's "standard representation" of the ship, all later images of the ship appear in this same orientation? I also know that South Korea's currency authorities enforce(d) a strict policy with regard to depictions of Korean historical artifacts or culture: They are to be displayed as realistically and historically accurate depictions as possible. There could be two reasons why the North and South orient their ships differently: 1) Sheer coincidence 2) Since South Korea has been showing its Turtle boat facing left, the North's currency authorities decided to face theirs the other way (just to be different). It may sound silly, but this is very possible in ostensibly "revolutionary" regimes such as the DPRK. The Turtle Boat is associated with Admiral Yi (or Lee) Sunshin. He not often touted by the DPRK as a big historical hero, not as much as in South Korea. He's an historically-acceptable figure in the North (obviously, there's his commemorative coin in the OP), but only a MINOR figure in North Korean historiography. I suspect the reason is because the North's arch-nemesis, President Park (1961-1979) of South Korea pushed the image and legend of Admiral Yi in a major "monuments building" campaign (this effort also resulted in South Korea's 100-Won coin (1970) featuring the Admiral, and the Five-Won coin (1966) with the turtle ship). Admiral Yi and the turtle boat were much-celebrated as anti-Japanese symbols during the Park regime, since Park needed anti-Japanese messaging to offset his cozying up to Japan during his economic push (After they normalized relations with Japan in 1965, the South Koreans became the beneficiaries of over $1.4 billion USD in Japanese grants, loans, and commercial credits by 1985). Admiral Yi helped deflect the Korean public's attention away from the fact that much of the South's economic rise was financed by Japan, even though this was kept as hush-hush as possible. It was meant to help President Park's own anti-Japanese credibility. He needed it: Park was an officer in the Japanese 8th Route Army stationed in Jilin, China during WW2(!)
