Currency & Banking
Once you begin teaching in Korea, you will need to exchange currency for Korean won. You will be able to exchange your currency at airport booths, in the lobbies of some of the major hotels throughout Korea and at most banks. Banks usually offer the best rates.
The unit of currency used in Korea is the won, and Korean banknotes are issued in three denominations: the 1,000 won, 5,000 won and 10,000 won notes. Banks offer checks that range in value from 100,000 won to 10,000,000 won. Legally employed residents such as instructors teaching in Korea, can cash these checks virtually anywhere, as long as an ID card is presented and the back of the cheque is signed.
There are also four coins used in Korea: the 500 won piece, the 100 won piece, the 50 won piece and the 10 won piece, which has about the same value as a penny. All four of the coins can be used in most vending machines.
See images of Korean currency in the picture below:
The easiest way to think of Korean currency in terms of value is that 1,000 won = $1.00 US. That is just an approximation, as the dollar tends to fluctuate against the won. If you need a more concrete figure when you are teaching in Korea, check out www.xe.com/ucc which gives a simple conversion among most of the world's currencies.