Friday, September 23, 2016

Korea 2018 Winter Games coins launched

On Sept 22, The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) launched the first set of commemorate coins for the upcoming Games. The commemorative coins for PyeongChang 2018 will be released in two batches. The first batch with 290,500 will be issued on November 18.

korea 2018 coins

The announcement was made by with Lee Hee-beom, the president of POCOG in the ceremony held in Seoul together with Kim Min-ho, the deputy governor of Bank of Korea, Poongsan Group Chairman Ryu Jin, Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. President Kim Hwa-dong, and Kim Yu-na, a former figure skating champion and honorary ambassador for PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games.

The pre-orders will be taken by the Poongsan Hwadong which is a dealer and distributor of coins. The Pre-orders can be made throughout Korea from September 26 to October 7 at ten financial institutions (KB Kookmin Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Nonghyup Bank, Suhyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Korea Post Office, BNK Kyongnam Bank, DGB Daegu Bank, BNK Busan Bank) and Poongsan Hwadong offices (POCOG coin supplier) and is planned to be issued for five days from December 5 to 9. International sales will begin in January 2017 through six official sub-distributors in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.


Moreover, the POCOG said that the amount reserved for overseas sales will go depending on the number of pre-order sales in South Korea. Around 30 percent of issued coins will be sold into six distributors located overseas. The first batch of coins are composed of 4,500 set of gold coins amounts to 30,000 won ($27), 15,000 set of gold coins amounts to 20,000 won, 200,000 set of silver coins amounts to 5,000 won which have eight designs and 71,000 set of brass coins amounts to 1,000 won.

Gorosoi ski

According to POCOG, all of the coins have PyeongChang Olympics emblem on its back side. The 31.1 gram-gold coin shows "Gorosoi ski" which is a traditional South Korean winter sports while the 15.55 gram-gold coin depicts Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre located in PyeongChang.

The silver coins have engravings of the eight Winter Olympics disciplines namely, short track speed skating, ski jumping, bobsleigh, luge, and the brass coin which displays the athletes in winter sports.

"Since the commemorative coins are unveiled and pre-orders will start, we expect the people's interest in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will be greater. Revenue from the sale of the coins should also help with the POCOG's finances," said Lee Hee-beom, the POCOG President.

Source: Korea Portal