South Korea has quite a small unit of currency, especially compared to similarly developed nations.
Western currencies like dollars, euros and pounds tend to stand at similar values — 1k-2k from KRW’s perspective. Then there are Brazilian Real (250 KRW), Chinese Renminbi (190 KRW), or Hong Kong Dollar (180 KRW). And a bit below are Russian Ruble (15 KRW), Indian Rupee (15 KRW), and Japanese Yen (10 KRW). Only Iraqi Dinar (~1 KRW) seems to rate similar to KRW.
With this smol currency, common expenditures are displayed in multiple digits:
- A simple meal would cost 5-15k.
- Monthly rent for a small room in Seoul would be 500k-1,500k.
- A new car is priced at 20,000-40,000k.
At this point I’m unsure whether to proceed to “million won” zone, or keep writing things in k lol. After all, it’s K! 🇰🇷
Anyway, to go back and forth between KRW and USD for example is quite confusing. In the US you would buy a decent car at 20k USD for example, so the large KRW numbers look hilarious sometimes.
The good thing about KRW is that it’s enough; no decimal point. Heck I’ve never seen prices that even use the last digit, they’re all in units of 10 wons. Nobody cares if you give or take 10 won; do that with 10 USD and you’ll see to that lol.
Do the numbers ever confuse you?
submitted by /u/028247
[link] [comments]
