EconomyAD 996

Geonwon Jungbo Coins Minted

Under Seongjong, Goryeo cast the iron Geonwon Jungbo, the first metal currency issued by a Korean state.

In 996 Seongjong had iron coins cast. They copied the Tang Qianyuan zhongbao, with the same characters on the face and "Dongguk" (Eastern Country) on the back to mark them as Goryeo coins — counted as the first metal currency in Korean history.

In a largely self-sufficient economy people kept trading with grain and hemp cloth, and the coins never circulated widely. Money was minted again only about a century later, when Sukjong set up the Mint (Jujeon Dogam).

Show on the map

The map in AD 996

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

States and rulers at the time: Goryeo — Seongjong

People

King SeongjongAD 960 – AD 997
monarch · Sixth king of Goryeo, who adopted Choe Seung-ro’s 28-article memorial and built a Confucian central and local administration

Before and after

Earlier: AD 995 Two Armies, Six Guards and the Provincial Forces
Later: AD 998 Revised Jeonsigwa

Themes that include this event

History of Korean CurrencyAD 996 – 1905
From Geonwon Jungbo to the 1905 currency reform — how coins took hold in an economy of rice and cloth, and how monetary sovereignty was lost