Counterfeit bills reported to the Bank of Korea (BOK) totaled 3,585 in number last year, down 58.4 percent from 8,627 tallied in the previous year.
The number of fake 50,000-won notes plunged 74.5 percent on-year to 84 in 2013, while that of counterfeit 10,000-won bills fell 76 percent to 909, the BOK said.
BOK officials attributed the sharp decrease to people’s improved ability to discern counterfeit bills, increased public awareness of fake notes and the tightened crackdown by authorities.
The number of fakes per 1 million bank notes reached 0.9 last year, down from 2,2 in 2012, 3.1 in 2009 and 6.1 in 2006.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com