The Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a centra ...

. Established on December 6, 1947, it issues the North Korean wŏn. The Bank is subordinated to the

Cabinet of North Korea The Cabinet of North Korea (''Naegak'') is, according to the Constitution of North Korea, the administrative and executive body and a general state-management organ in the Government of North Korea. The Cabinet's principal newspaper is '' Minj ...

. Since 2021, the president of the bank is Chae Song-hak. He was preceded by Kim Chon-gyun since 2014.

History

On February 15, 1946, a central bank of North Korea was announced, which was to be under the control of the

Soviet military The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

. However, the bank failed to accomplish its objectives, being unable to meet its costs of operation, and the 100 million wŏn capitalisation was ineffective.McCune, 2007, p. 194. The North Korean Interim People's Committee did not look upon the bank favorably, and chose instead to work through the Farmers' Bank, which also existed at the time. By late 1946, banking functions were consolidated into two main institutions, the Central Bank and Farmer's Bank. In June 1947, around 1,000 million wŏn was concentrated in the Central Bank, allowing it to extend credits totalling 900 million wŏn for economic rehabilitation.McCune, 2007, p. 195. The consolidation reflected a return to the original objectives of the People's Committee, which wanted closer control over the economy; any banking people opposed to the changes within the system were removed from their posts. On December 6, 1947, a comprehensive program of currency reform was announced. In 1959, the Central and Farmers' banks were merged to form the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Foreign Trade Bank was established to handle the Central Bank's international business. The Central Bank has over 220 branches. It operates the Chŏnsŏng electronic cash card.

History

Presidents

See also

References

Further reading