Etymology of the Korean currencies
The won is the currency of both North and South Korea. "Won" is a cognate of the Chinese currency unit, the yuan (//), and the Japanese currency unit, the yen (; ¥), meaning "round object". The won is subdivided into 100 jeon ().
South Korean won
The old "won" was a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen. It is derived from the hanja (), meaning "currency" or "coin." The won was subdivided into 100 "jeon" (), itself a cognate of the Chinese character 錢 ("qián") which means "money" and also used as a unit of money in ancient times. The current won (1962 to present) is written in hangul only and does not officially have any hanja associated with it.