South Korea Reveals Commemorative Coins For PyeongChang Winter Games 2018
The South Korean government revealed on Thursday the commemorative coins that will be used for the PyeongChang Winter Games in 2018.
The official setting for the commemorative coins in the very first Winter Games in South Korea was revealed by the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) in the year 2018.
The announcement was made in the ceremony held in Seoul together with Lee Hee-beom, the president of POCOG, 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.
According to the POCOG, the commemorative coins for PyeongChang 2018 will be released in two batches. The first batch with 290,500 will be issued on November 18 and will last until October 7. The pre-orders will be taken by the Poongsan Hwadong which is a dealer and distributor of coins, together with the ten financial institutions across South Korea while the products will be distributed on December 5-9.
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.
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.