It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

CURRENCY REFORM: A Korea Herald Editorial calls for currency reform in Korea. In short, the 10,000 won bill is just too small for the 21st century.

The Korean economy has grown 100-fold since the 10,000 won bill was first printed three decades ago. During the same period, prices have increased 11 times. These tremendous changes have two major implications for the Korean currency - the need to print banknotes of larger denomination and to chop two or three zeroes off the won.

This makes perfect sense to me. Currently, one has to carry around an impossibly fat wallet if one ever needs to have any sizable amount of cash. And, as the editorial notes, the practice of using bank-issued 100,000 won checks has drawbacks as well:

The high cost is a drawback in using these checks. Commercial banks spend as much as 600 billion won a year printing 100,000 won checks, not to mention the cost of keeping all the used ones for the statutory minimum period of five years.

But then there's this mind-boggling objection:

Some civic groups are opposed to the idea of putting 50,000 won and 100,000 won bills in circulation on the grounds that this could make it easier to bribe politicians or government officials.

I guess it probably is harder to slide money under the table when the bribe has to be three inches thick but this is an amazing objection to what otherwise appears to be a sensible policy.