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Message:: [QUOTE="mlov43, post: 24597876, member: 16729"]won (圓):The currency in China and Korea for many years was referred to as won, or in Chinese transliteration into English 'yuan' (圓), indicating a "round currency."   The 1st South Korean won (1945 to Feb. 1953) used the above Chinese character and was pronounced as you see.  It could be written in hangeul as '원.'  They first used Japanese printed Bank of Chosen yen notes, then they began printing their own won notes. hwan (圜):Then because of the Korean War and its resultant hyperinflation, they introduced a new currency (from a currency reform, at a rate of 100 old = 1 new) in February 1953.  The government decided to name the currency with a different Chinese character to differentiate it from the previous money.  They named it with this character: 圜, which can be pronounced the same way, and indicates the same thing ("money").  However, to further help in differentiating this money from the previous money, the government wrote the hangeul as '환' hwan.  I'm pretty sure people still pronounced it won, or even used both pronounciations. won (원):THEN, when South Korea became the very poorest country on Earth, came another currency reform in 1962 (at a rate of 10 old = 1 new), bringing us the current money of South Korea, the 2nd South Korean won, (or as some English-language publishers note, "Reform Currency").  They went back to pronouncing and writing THIS currency as won (원), but they did not ascribe any corresponding Chinese character to it. So today, and since June 1962, the South Korean currency is the won 원 (no Chinese character).[/QUOTE]

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