1 oz Taekwondo Silver Round

The KOMSCO Taekwondo: Korea's Martial Art in Silver

The 1 oz Taekwondo silver round comes from KOMSCO, the Korea Minting, Security Printing and ID Card Operating Corporation, South Korea's state-owned mint. It belongs to the K-Series, KOMSCO's programme celebrating Korean cultural heritage, alongside subjects such as the Chiwoo Cheonwang warrior guardian and the Tiger. The series debuted in 2019 and ran annual releases through 2022, each depicting a different Taekwondo technique in .999 fine silver.

Despite coming from a national mint, these pieces are medals rather than legal tender coins. South Korea does not authorise bullion-specific legal tender programmes the way Australia, Canada, or the UK do, so KOMSCO's bullion carries no face value. What the products do carry is the security pedigree of the organisation that has produced South Korea's banknotes, coins, passports, and official documents since 1951: the obverse incorporates a latent security device embedded in the Taegeuk design that alternates depending on viewing angle.

The defining investment characteristic is scarcity. Mintages for the 1 oz silver BU releases ran from 30,000 in 2019 down to just 5,000 in 2022, tiny numbers against the 300,000-plus runs typical of mainstream bullion coins. That places the Taekwondo in collector-bullion crossover territory: more collectible than a 1 oz silver Britannia, but less liquid, with pricing driven as much by collector demand as by silver content.

Taekwondo Silver Round Specifications and Mintages

The 1 oz silver Brilliant Uncirculated release has the following specifications.

Mintage figures by year for the 1 oz silver release:

The design also exists in a 1 oz gold round (1,000 minted for the 2022 release) and a 10 oz antiqued silver version produced in 2021. The primary anti-counterfeiting measure is the latent security image integrated into the Taegeuk symbol on the obverse, which shifts with viewing angle, supported by KOMSCO's proprietary micro-engraving developed through decades of security printing. No certificate of authenticity is included with BU versions.

Tax Treatment of the Taekwondo Medal by Country

Because the Taekwondo is a medal with no legal tender status, it is taxed as a silver round everywhere, and it misses out on the coin-specific concessions some jurisdictions offer.

• UK: 20% VAT on purchase, as non-legal-tender silver. No CGT exemption, which applies only to UK legal tender coins, and no margin scheme treatment for new pieces.
• US: Most states that exempt precious metals from sales tax include medals and rounds meeting purity thresholds, and the .999 fineness qualifies in those states. Long-term capital gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%.
• EU: Full standard VAT at national rates, from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary.
• Canada: 0% GST/HST on silver at 99.9% purity or higher in coin, bar, ingot, or wafer form; the .999 purity clears the federal threshold.
• Australia and New Zealand: the GST exemptions for investment-grade silver require 99.9% purity, which .999 meets exactly.
• Singapore: the Investment Precious Metals exemption for silver requires 99.9% purity in qualifying forms; Hong Kong applies no sales tax or capital gains tax to bullion at all.
• South Korea: the medals are not classified as money or legal tender domestically and are treated as collectible precious metal products.

Four Years of Taekwondo Designs, 2019 to 2022

The series opened in 2019 with a practitioner delivering a high sweeping kick, paired with the obverse element that would remain constant across all years: the Taegeuk, the Korean yin-yang symbol in which Yang above and Eum below swirl together to represent harmony in nature. The Taegeuk doubles as the carrier for the latent security image.

The 2020 second release is the most visually dramatic of the series, showing a fighter delivering a knockout punch with forced perspective that makes the fist appear to break through the surface of the medal. 2021 brought a new stance and technique, issued only in very small proof and antiqued formats. The 2022 fourth release, described at the time as the final one, depicts a black belt master in a martial arts stance and carries a privy mark shaped like a closed fist. KOMSCO has not formally confirmed the series is closed, but no subsequent release followed.

The subject matter is a natural fit for a Korean mint. Taekwondo is Korea's national sport and became an official Olympic sport at the Sydney 2000 games. The declining mintages across the run, from 30,000 down to 5,000, suggest either softening commercial demand or a deliberate scarcity strategy; either way, the later years are the scarcest. The Taekwondo built on the international audience KOMSCO established with the Chiwoo Cheonwang series from 2016, which created the K-Series brand among Western stackers and remains the mint's flagship line.

Taekwondo vs Chiwoo Cheonwang, Panda, and Mainstream Bullion

The natural first comparison is with KOMSCO's own Chiwoo Cheonwang. The Chiwoo launched in 2016, three years earlier, and was the mint's first international bullion hit; that head start in collector adoption means Chiwoo issues command significantly higher secondary-market premiums. The Taekwondo arrived into an established K-Series ecosystem and offers similar production quality and security features at more accessible pricing.

Against the Chinese Panda, both are Asian-origin bullion with annually changing designs, but the Panda is legal tender with far higher mintages and global recognition. The Taekwondo's mintages of 5,000 to 30,000 are a fraction of mainstream bullion volumes, which cuts both ways: more scarcity-driven upside for collectors, thinner exit liquidity for stackers. Most sovereign mints touch sport themes only through one-off commemoratives, making a multi-year bullion programme built around a martial art genuinely unusual.

For buyers weighing the Taekwondo against mainstream silver, the calculus is different. A 1 oz American Silver Eagle or Britannia offers legal tender status, universal dealer recognition, and effortless resale. The Taekwondo offers low mintages, distinctive design, and a latent security feature, but resale depends on finding dealers or collectors familiar with the K-Series. Pure cost-focused stackers will find better value in silver rounds from high-volume private mints; the Taekwondo's audience is buyers who want their silver to carry some collectible weight.