My friend Sara called me from Geoje one afternoon, laughing. She had just returned to Korea after seven months in the US, walked back into her apartment, and found it — a jar of coins that had been sitting untouched since the day she left. Not a small jar. A heavy, embarrassing, where-did-all-this-come-from kind of jar. She wanted to do a Korean bank coin exchange before heading back to the States again, and she needed to know exactly what to do. If you’re dealing with Seoul small business support programs for expats or just running daily cash transactions, you already know how fast coins accumulate in Korea. Here’s what I found out — and what Sara did — so you don’t have to figure it out the hard way.
To exchange coins at a Korean bank, call your branch ahead of time to confirm coin exchange hours (typically Wednesday mornings, 9am–11:30am), pre-sort your coins by denomination, bring your bankbook or account details, and visit the teller directly. Coin counting machines are rare — most branches require manual pre-sorting. Foreign coins must be separated out before you arrive.
The Phone Call That Saved the Trip
The first thing I did was ask Sara which bank she used and find the closest branch to her place in Geoje. Then I called them directly.
This is the move most people skip. They assume a bank is a bank — you walk in, hand over your coins, done. But Korean bank coin exchange doesn’t work that way, and showing up unprepared means hauling your coins back home and coming back another day.
The Hana Bank branch I reached told me three things immediately: coin exchange was only available between 9am and 11:30am, coins needed to be pre-sorted by denomination, and the branch didn’t have an automatic coin counting machine. That last point matters more than people realise. Without pre-sorting, they simply can’t process your coins.
Sara went in during the designated window, pre-sorted and ready. She said it was straightforward — though she was mortified by the sheer volume she was carrying. So heavy, in fact, that when I asked her to take a photo for the blog, she said she couldn’t manage both the bag and the phone at the same time.
Why Coins Pile Up in Korea
Korea has gone cashless faster than almost anywhere. I barely carry a card these days — I pay with my phone for almost everything. But that shift happened gradually, and a lot of long-term expats spent years paying in cash before tap-to-pay became the norm. The result is a generation of jam jars and ziplock bags filled with 10-won, 50-won, 100-won, and 500-won coins sitting forgotten in drawers across the country.
The 10-won coin in particular has become almost symbolic of the problem. It’s officially still in circulation according to the Bank of Korea, but practically speaking, almost no one uses it anymore. Prices rarely end in a number that requires one. They accumulate simply by existing.
How to Exchange Coins at a Korean Bank — Step by Step
Here’s the exact process, based on what Sara went through and what I confirmed with the branch directly.
Step 1: Identify your bank and find the nearest branch. Coin exchange is only available at branches where you hold an account. This is non-negotiable at most banks — they won’t process coins for a walk-in customer without an account there.
Step 2: Call the branch before you go. Look up the branch phone number online — just search the bank name plus the neighbourhood. Ask specifically: Do you offer coin exchange? What are the hours? Do I need to pre-sort? Is there a machine or does it go to the teller? This call takes two minutes and can save you an entire wasted trip.
Step 3: Pre-sort your coins by denomination. Separate your 10-won, 50-won, 100-won, and 500-won coins into distinct piles or bags. Most branches will not accept an unsorted pile. If you’re bringing a large amount, count them roughly as you sort.
Step 4: Visit during the designated window. Coin exchange at most branches is limited to morning hours — typically 9am to 11:30am. Wednesday mornings tend to be the least crowded time across most branches. Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.
Step 5: Go to the teller, not the machine. Unless your branch has a coin deposit ATM — and many don’t — you’ll be handling this at the counter. Bring your bankbook or have your account number ready. The teller will count and deposit directly into your account, or hand you bills in exchange.
Coin Deposit ATMs — Are They Worth Looking For?
Some branches of the major banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup — do have coin deposit machines. These machines sort and count automatically, which removes the pre-sorting requirement. However, they are not common, and availability varies enormously by branch.
If finding one matters to you, call ahead and ask specifically: “동전 입금기 있어요?” (Do you have a coin deposit machine?) You can also check the bank’s official app — KB Star Banking and Shinhan SOL both show branch amenities, though this information isn’t always up to date.
The honest answer is: don’t rely on finding a machine. Go in prepared to sort manually, and treat any machine you find as a bonus.
What About Foreign Coins?
This is a genuinely important tip for long-term expats. If you’ve lived in Korea for any length of time while travelling or receiving visitors from abroad, there’s a good chance your coin jar is not entirely Korean won. Japanese yen, US quarters, Australian dollars, South African rand — they all look vaguely similar in a mixed pile at the bottom of a bag.
Korean bank coin exchange machines and tellers cannot process foreign coins. If you try to deposit a mixed pile, the foreign coins will be handed back to you — or worse, the entire batch gets flagged and delayed.
Before you go, sort out any foreign coins into a separate container. For yen specifically, the Bank of Korea headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul handles foreign currency exchange on weekdays between 9am and 4pm, though they primarily deal in notes rather than foreign coins. For foreign coins specifically, most airport exchange counters are your best option.
📍 Bank of Korea Headquarters
Address: 39 Namdaemun-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
A Few More Things Worth Knowing
There is generally a limit of around 100 to 200 coins per visit at most branches, though this varies. If you have a truly large amount — say, several hundred coins accumulated over months — it’s worth asking the branch in advance whether you need to split across multiple visits or whether they can handle it in one go. Sara’s haul was apparently on the larger side, but one visit was enough.
The process is also only available to account holders. If you have coins but your bank account is at a different branch from the one closest to you, you are still entitled to use any branch of your own bank — not just the one where you originally opened your account.
And if navigating all of this in Korean feels like too much friction on top of an already annoying errand, you’re not alone. Once you’ve sorted out your loose change, you might want to tackle other local administrative tasks, like figuring out how to handle other Korean admin tasks you can handle yourself — including printing DIY baby passport photos without visiting a studio.
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