Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Korean banknotes
• 10,000 won: Sejong the Great (1397-1450), Korea's most celebrated ruler and in-
ventor of the hangul alphabet.
• 50,000 won: Shim Saimdang (1504-1551), an artist, writer, and calligrapher who is
viewed as a model of Confucian ideals and was also the mother of Yi I.
Opening an account with a South Korean bank is the easy part. Simply bring your alien
registration card, the chief piece of local ID, to any bank branch, and you'll be issued a
bankbook in a matter of minutes. Some banks will also allow foreign nationals to open a
bank account with only a passport, but this has become less common and, even if permitted,
services will be limited. There's little distinction between savings and checking accounts in
South Korea, and savings accounts are the default, though interest rates tend to be very low.
Fixed-deposit, foreign-currency, and other varieties of accounts are also available at most
banks.
Bank passbooks function much like bank cards and can be used to make deposits, with-
drawals, and perform other functions at bank machines. If you also want a bank card or
a “cash card”—the local version of the debit card—you'll have to ask for it and will usu-
