Banknote printer eyes commemorative coins as new growth engine

The headquarters of Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) in Daejeon / Courtesy of KOMSCO

Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) plans to issue commemorative coins as part of efforts to explore new growth engines, the corporation said Sunday.

Operating under the wing of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, KOMSCO is responsibe for printing banknotes and coins. It hosted a seminar last week to discuss how issuing commemorative coins can contribute to its growth as Korea is rapidly turning into a cashless society.

The seminar also discussed how the coins, made of gold, silver and other precious metals, can have artistic value and thus serve Korea’s goal of moving forward as an international cultural powerhouse.

Korea has not issued commemorative coins on a regular basis, while six major economies — the United States, China, Canada, Austria, the United Kingdom and Australia — have seen rising sales of such coins for years.

In 2022, the sales amounted to the equivalent of 4.85 trillion won for the U.S., 4.26 trillion won for China, 2.98 trillion won for Canada, 2.95 trillion won in Austria, 2.63 trillion won in the U.K. and 2.16 trillion won in Australia.

The coins are imprinted with images of the respective country’s symbolic animals or iconic points of culture, such as the bald eagle for the U.S., the Panda for China and the Vienna Philharmonic for Austria.

“In Korea's case, we may consider hallyu and K-pop in our design for a coin,” the corporation said.

It issued commemorative coins to mark special occasions such as the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics and 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

In 2023, it sold more than 10,000 medals that commemorate the 10th anniversary of K-pop boy band BTS' debut.

The sales amounted to 6 billion won, marking the highest sales among all commemorative medals issued by the corporation.