SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of counterfeit banknotes found in South Korea hit a record low last year, central bank data showed Wednesday.

File photo: VCG

The number of fake bills found here was 267 in 2019, more than halving from 614 discovered in the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the lowest since the bank began compiling the data in 1998.

The record-low bogus banknotes were attributed to an enhanced security system that made it easier to distinguish genuine bills from fake ones.

The number of counterfeit bills per every 1 million banknotes was 0.05 in 2019, down from 0.12 in the prior year.

It was a relatively low level compared with other countries such as Britain with 127.1 fake bills per million, Australia with 13.1 and Japan with 0.12 each.

By denomination, the bogus bills of 5,000 won (4.3 U.S. dollars) took up 43.1 percent of all counterfeit banknotes found last year.

It was followed by fake bills of 10,000 won (8.6 U.S. dollars) with 35.6 percent and the 50,000 won (43 U.S. dollars) banknote with 17.6 percent.