In 2016, the Central Bank of DPR Korea issued a silver commemorative coin of Pyongyang Patriotic Woman Paek Son Haeng, who donated a large sum of money on behalf of the nation.
Carved on the central front of the coin is the portrait of Paek Son Haeng and the background is the image of Paek Son Haeng Memorial Hall. On the right side of the front is the Monument of Paek Son Haeng and on the left side are letters “1848-1933”. On the upper part of the front are letters reading “Pyongyang Patriotic Woman Paek Son Haeng” (평양의 애국적녀인 백선행) and on its lower part are letters reading “2016”.
On the central back of the coin is the image of Taedongmun. Seen in the upper part of the back are the letters “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (조선민주주의인민공화국) and in its lower part are the weight, face value and degree of purity.
The face value of the silver coin is 20 won.
The size of the silver coin is 38 mm in diameter.
The silver coin contains 1oz of 999 silver.
Its mintage is 500 pieces.
Here is an introduction to Pyongyang Patriotic Woman Paek Son Haeng,
Paek Son Haeng
Beside the Ryongwang Pavilion on the bank of the Taedong River meandering through downtown Pyongyang is the Paek Son Haeng Memorial Hall, a three-storeyed stone building.
Paek Son Haeng (November 19, 1848-May 8, 1933) was a patriotic woman who donated a huge sum of money, a fruition of diligence, frugality and the economy, to the righteous undertakings for the country and nation, remaining single until well over eighty.
Born as the eldest daughter of Paek Ji Yong, a poor scholar, on November 19, 1848, she lost her father at the age of 7 and suffered from poverty before she got married at 14, but her husband died when she was 16.
She had her blood from fingers fed to her husband on his deathbed, postponing his life for five days. She wanted him to live longer, but he passed away, leaving his young wife behind.
She had been called Widow Paek thereafter, and she accumulated wealth with diligent and unremitting efforts even in those dark days of Japanese colonial rule; she worked for decades like a day, weaving hemp cloth with a loom, spinning thread, dealing in bean sprouts, bean curds, hogwash and flowers and breeding pigs.
With the money she made like this, she bought at a cheap price an unattended stony mountain, and sold it back at a price scores of times the cost to Onota, a Japanese who posed as a master in Korea under Japan’s occupation.
Although she became one of the richest in the area of Phyongan Province, she worked diligently and led a simple life, and lavished her saved money on the righteous undertakings for the nation.
When the bridge before her village was damaged by flood, causing inconvenience to the traffic of the villagers, she unhesitatingly donated money for the building of a stone bridge. Thereafter they gave her an epithet Son Haeng (good conduct), and called the bridge Paekson Bridge.
Afterwards, she contributed to the national enlightenment movement and educational work for the rising generations by donating a large expanse of land to schools like Kwangsong Primary School, Changdok School and Sungui Girls School in Pyongyang and built a handsome public hall in downtown Pyongyang only for the Koreans.
The public hall is the present Paek Son Haeng Memorial Hall.
Today the building serves as an important place for education that instils patriotism in the people. Registered as a national treasure, it is now under the management by the state.
Jang Hyang Ok (2021). PYONGYANG SEEN FROM ANECDOTES AND LEGENDARY TALES. (pp.39-40) Pyongyang: Foreign Language Publishing House of the DPR Korea