A total of 41 counterfeit banknotes were detected during the first six months of this year, down 21 from 62 a year earlier, marking a 33.9 percent decline.
The tally includes counterfeit notes discovered by the central bank while handling currency in circulation, as well as those reported to the BOK by financial institutions after being found in cash deposits or at teller windows.
The combined face value of the counterfeit notes came to 473,000 won, down 570,000 won from a year earlier. The decline was largely due to a drop in counterfeit 50,000-won notes, which fell to five from 15.
By denomination, 5,000-won notes accounted for the largest share with 22 bills. They were followed by 11 10,000-won notes, five 50,000-won notes and three 1,000-won notes.
Of the counterfeit 5,000-won notes, 17 were old-series bills with the serial number pattern "77246," which were produced by a large-scale counterfeiter arrested in June 2013. The figure was down from 20 a year earlier.
The BOK said 12 newly detected counterfeit serial numbers were found in the first half, with higher-denomination bills accounting for most of them, suggesting that new counterfeiting attempts were concentrated in larger bills.
The ratio of counterfeit notes to banknotes in circulation remained very low. The BOK said Korea had 0.6 counterfeit notes detected per 100 million banknotes in circulation.
That compares with 4,229 in the U.K., 1,461 in Europe, 1,411 in Canada and 8.6 in Japan. The BOK said the country's counterfeit-note ratio has continued a gradual decline after falling sharply through 2019.
Separately, the central bank gave a BOK governor's award to Icheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province for its role in preventing counterfeit currency from spreading.
The police station was recognized for arresting two suspects accused of counterfeiting 20 50,000-won notes and three others accused of passing 12 counterfeit notes at 11 locations, including convenience stores, after launching an investigation from a 112 emergency call last November.
The BOK said most of the seized counterfeit notes had mismatched serial numbers on the upper left and lower right of the front side. The lower-right serial number was identical on the seized notes, reading "FC2902733H."
The central bank advised people to report suspicious notes to police immediately.
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