What lands in Australia when someone sends North Korean won: the live mid-market KPW→AUD rate, the details to give the sender, and the receiving-end fees to check.
| They send (KPW) | You receive at mid-market (AUD) |
|---|---|
| 10,000 KPW | 110 AUD |
| 50,000 KPW | 552 AUD |
| 100,000 KPW | 1,104 AUD |
| 500,000 KPW | 5,519 AUD |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
One of the most closed-off countries on Earth, North Korea keeps its own calendar and its own carefully guarded borders on the northern half of the Korean peninsula.
A wide central red panel bordered above and below by a narrow white stripe and a broad blue stripe, with a red five-pointed star in a white circle near the hoist. Article 166 of the constitution prescribes exactly that, sets the flag at 1.65 times as long as it is tall and assigns none of it a meaning; a separate national flag law gives the whole flag a meaning without reading the colours one by one. A state account of the design gives the red to the blood of revolutionaries, the white to a nation of one bloodline and culture, the blue to the people's stamina and to sovereignty, and the star to bravery.
There is no ordinary way to send money to North Korea from Australia. The won is not traded, sanctions prohibit the overwhelming majority of financial dealings, and the figure carried here exists as a reference series rather than a usable transfer rate.
An Australian account is addressed by two numbers and a code. The BSB is issued by the Australian Payments Network to each member of the domestic clearing system and routes the payment to the right destination. The account number identifies the account behind it. The bank’s SWIFT/BIC, eight or eleven characters of institution, country and location, identifies the bank itself. What a sender abroad will not get is an IBAN. Those formats are registered country by country under ISO 13616, only a national standards body or central bank can register one, and the registry Swift publishes holds eighty-nine countries with Australia not among them. Nor is a PayID the answer. PayID is an addressing option inside the New Payments Platform, Australia’s domestic system, offered alongside the BSB and account number rather than instead of them.
The name matters more than most senders expect. Australia has an industry name check, Confirmation of Payee, launched in July 2025: it verifies entered account details against those the recipient’s bank holds and displays a match outcome. Its scope is payments addressed to a BSB and account number over the New Payments Platform and the Bulk Electronic Clearing System. Those are the domestic rails, so the check sits on an Australian payer’s instruction, not on one given overseas, and it does not cover the inbound leg even where that leg runs over the same platform. The name given abroad has to match the account exactly, and the Reserve Bank lists messaging errors and inconsistencies among the frictions that slow a cross-border payment. The route matters too. The Reserve Bank’s account is that a payment often flows through one or more correspondent banks to reach its destination, adding to the cost and the time. The last leg has changed most. Under the International Payments Service a participating Australian institution can carry the final domestic leg over the New Payments Platform. Of the payments sent that way in December 2025, more than half arrived sooner than they would have through the older high-value route.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in North Korea - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. On arrival, check whether your bank charges an inbound international (SWIFT) fee - transfers sent via modern services often arrive as domestic payments and avoid it.
The AUD/KPW converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
What details do I give someone sending money from North Korea?
Your full name exactly as it appears on the account, your BSB and account number, and your bank’s SWIFT/BIC code. There is no Australian IBAN to give.
How many Australian dollars will actually arrive?
A little less than the mid-market figures on this page. The sender's service sets the exchange rate (mid-market minus its margin) and any fees before the money leaves North Korea; your own bank may also charge an inbound international transfer fee.
Can I do anything about the rate as the receiver?
Not after it’s sent - the rate is locked on the sender’s side. What helps is before the transfer: share this page’s live mid-market rate with the sender so they can see the margin in any quote they’re given.