The Bank of Korea said Tuesday that its campaign to put dormant coins back to use has successfully put more than 260 million coins back into circulation, Yonhap reported. In just one month of the recollection campaign in May, people brought out some 267 million coins, worth 36.7 billion won ($31.64 million) in value, to have them changed into banknotes, according to the central bank. The result marks a 1.9% increase in the number of reclaimed coins from last year’s campaign, and a 1.4% rise in their combined value. The BOK said the coins reclaimed this year alone would have cost 22.5 billion won, or over 61% of their facial value, to be replaced with new coins. In 2015 alone, the central bank spent 54 billion won to supply fresh coins. Amid the growing costs of minting and maintaining coins, the BoK is moving to turn the country into what it calls a coinless society, where small changes will be exchanged online, instead of in coins.
