From survival crisis to record sales: Korea Minting Corp. leaders chronicle reinvention

Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. has turned its struggle to survive in a cashless era into a book, documenting how it discovered new business lines and achieved record sales.

The book, "Stories of Currency That Change the World," was planned and written jointly by CEO Sung Chang-hoon and communications director Woo Jin-gu. It traces the corporation's journey from acknowledging the limits of its core business to finding new sources of revenue, including the missteps along the way. The collaboration between the executive responsible for management and the communications chief in revisiting the transformation firsthand has drawn attention.

The starting point was a sense of crisis — the fear that declining demand for its core business could threaten the corporation's very existence, much as it did for Korea Coal Corp. In October 2023, the corporation had just endured two consecutive years of annual sales declines of around 50 billion won ($37.2 million). By 2025, it had halted new production of all circulating coins, from the 10-won piece to the 500-won piece.

The breakthrough came from the corporation's accumulated anti-counterfeiting technology. It expanded the security expertise behind banknotes and identity documents into mobile ID services, and broadened its business into the local gift voucher platform "Chak" and a digital Onnuri gift voucher platform. A line of products called "Money Made" — including pens and cushions crafted from shredded banknotes — represented another attempt to open new markets.

Sales rose from 444.7 billion won in 2023 to a record 639.5 billion won in 2025. Over the same period, operating profit climbed from 11 billion won to 18.7 billion won.

The book also covers the organizational culture changes that underpinned the new ventures. These include a multi-directional performance review system in which employees evaluate managers, the public disclosure of CEO evaluations, and a special promotion track requiring candidates to present their own achievements directly. The book also recounts an episode in which Sung chose not to intervene when the integrated digital Onnuri gift voucher app crashed on its launch day, instead waiting for the working-level team to resolve the problem on their own.

The subtitle is "A Narrative of Challenge That Turned Crisis into Opportunity." The book is the third in a series following "The Future of Currency Technology" and "The Future of Public Enterprises," and concludes the trilogy by chronicling how a state-owned currency manufacturer found a new path through digital services and cultural products.