BOK floats 6tr won worth of fresh bills ahead of Lunar New Year's Day

(Yonhap)

The Bank of Korea said Thursday it has issued over 6 trillion won ($5.15 billion) worth of fresh banknotes ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that starts on Friday.

The move apparently comes in preparation for high demand for fresh bills due to the long-lived tradition of elders offering cash gifts to younger ones after receiving deep bows as the first greeting in a new year.

For the past 10 days, the South Korean central bank supplied about 6.09 trillion won worth of fresh banknotes to banks and other financial institutions here where people can exchange their stained or wrinkled bills for new ones.

The amount marks a slight increase from 6.03 trillion won delivered before the holiday season a year earlier. (Yonhap)