Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation

Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, commonly known as KOMSCO, is South Korea's state-owned mint and security-printing organization. Its principal public role is to manufacture and supply the country's physical currency, including banknotes and circulation coins, together with a broad range of documents and products that require controlled production, specialized materials, and anti-counterfeiting features. The organization is headquartered in Daejeon and operates facilities with distinct responsibilities, including a currency headquarters in Gyeongsan for medals, decorations, and related minting work. KOMSCO supplies core government and financial institutions. Its customers and counterparties include the Bank of Korea, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Korea Federation of Banks, and Korea Post. Its production responsibilities extend beyond ordinary currency: the organization makes checks, postage stamps, securities, bonds, gift certificates, passports, and other government or commercial security documents. It also supplies security products to large companies and distribution groups, including Shinsegae, NongHyup, KEB Hana Bank, Dong-A Pharmaceutical, Homeplus, and GS-related businesses. The corporation's minting activities cover South Korea's circulating coin denominations, from the 1-won coin through the 500-won coin, while its currency-printing operations produce the 1,000-, 5,000-, 10,000-, and 50,000-won banknotes. These products place KOMSCO at the center of the country's physical monetary infrastructure, even though monetary policy and currency issuance are functions of public authorities rather than the mint alone. KOMSCO also has a commemorative and cultural-production business. It manufactures circulation and commemorative coins, medals, precious-metal products, decorations, and replicas of cultural-heritage objects. Its medal portfolio has included Olympic medals, promotional medals, artistic medals, long-service medals, and government commemoratives. The corporation produces twelve types of government decorations, including the Order of the Mugunghwa, South Korea's highest order. These activities connect the organization with national ceremonies, public recognition, cultural representation, and collector markets. In addition, KOMSCO produces bullion and investment-oriented coin series, including the KOMSCO Tiger series, Chiwoo Cheonwang, Zi:Sin, and the K Series. These products broaden the organization from a strictly governmental production agency into a specialized manufacturer serving collectors and precious-metal buyers. Overall, KOMSCO's positioning is based on institutional trust, production security, quality control, anti-counterfeiting capability, and its role as a national supplier of currency and identity-related products. Publicly available reference material does not establish a specific founding year, current executive roster, financial performance, or a definitive official website URL for this dossier.

KOMSCO developed as South Korea's dedicated public manufacturing organization for currency and other security-sensitive products. Its institutional purpose is tied to the need for the state to control the design, production, and distribution of banknotes, coins, and official documents. Rather than functioning as a consumer-facing brand, it operates as critical national infrastructure, supplying public authorities, financial institutions, postal services, and selected private-sector customers. The corporation's central historical function has been the production of South Korean currency. Its currency facilities print the country's won banknotes in the 1,000-, 5,000-, 10,000-, and 50,000-won denominations and mint the 1-, 5-, 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-won coins. This role requires specialized printing, engraving, metalworking, materials control, quality assurance, and security procedures designed to reduce counterfeiting and preserve confidence in physical money. Over time, KOMSCO's scope expanded beyond notes and coins. It became a supplier of checks, postage stamps, securities, bonds, gift certificates, passports, and other documents whose authenticity and controlled issuance are important to public administration or commerce. Its customer base includes the Bank of Korea, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Korea Federation of Banks, and Korea Post, as well as major corporations and distribution groups. This combination of public and commercial work made the corporation a broader security-printing institution rather than only a national mint. Minting and metalwork also became important parts of its identity. At the Currency Headquarters in Gyeongsan, KOMSCO produces commemorative coins, medals, precious-metal goods, and decorations. Its government work includes twelve types of decorations, among them the Order of the Mugunghwa. The organization has also produced Olympic medals, promotional and artistic medals, long-service awards, and reproductions of cultural-heritage objects. These projects extend its capabilities into ceremonial, cultural, and collector-oriented production. The development of bullion products added another commercial dimension. KOMSCO's named bullion series include KOMSCO Tiger, Chiwoo Cheonwang, Zi:Sin, and the K Series. Such lines use the corporation's minting reputation and precious-metal manufacturing capabilities for products aimed at collectors and investors, while remaining distinct from its public obligation to produce circulating currency. In its present form, KOMSCO is best understood as a state-owned, multi-purpose security manufacturer. Its activities span currency, identity documents, financial instruments, government awards, commemorative products, and bullion. The available reference material does not provide a reliable founding date, detailed chronology of organizational reorganizations, current leadership information, or financial history, so those elements are left unreported rather than inferred.

A trusted state-owned producer of currency, identity documents, government security materials, medals, and precious-metal products, positioned around national-service reliability, controlled manufacturing, and anti-counterfeiting expertise.

• Currency printing

  South Korean won banknotes

  KOMSCO prints South Korea's principal won banknote denominations: 1,000 won, 5,000 won, 10,000 won, and 50,000 won. The work involves specialized security printing and controlled production for the national currency system, with the Bank of Korea identified as a key institutional customer.

• Coin minting

  South Korean won circulation coins

  The corporation mints South Korea's circulating coin denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 won. These coins form part of the country's everyday monetary infrastructure and are produced alongside KOMSCO's commemorative and precious-metal minting activities.

• Security printing

  Government and commercial security documents

  KOMSCO produces a wide range of documents and printed instruments requiring authenticity controls, including checks, stamps, securities, bonds, gift certificates, passports, and other government or commercial security materials. Customers include public institutions, banks, postal services, and major corporations.

• Medals and awards

  Medals and government decorations

  KOMSCO manufactures commemorative, promotional, artistic, long-service, and cultural medals, as well as government decorations. Its work includes Olympic medals and twelve types of state decorations, including the Order of the Mugunghwa. Related production is associated with the Currency Headquarters in Gyeongsan.

• Precious-metal products

  Bullion coin series

  KOMSCO produces several named bullion coin families: KOMSCO Tiger, Chiwoo Cheonwang, Zi:Sin, and the K Series. These products use the corporation's minting and precious-metal capabilities for collector and investment-oriented markets rather than everyday circulation.

• Cultural products

  Cultural-heritage replicas

  The corporation produces replicas of cultural-heritage objects as part of its medal, minting, and specialized metalwork activities. These items complement its commemorative and ceremonial output and apply minting expertise to cultural representation and collecting.

1. 1Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporationen.wikipedia.org