Korea Stamp Society

An article on the basic introduction of the use of Japanese postcards through 1946 by South Korea, ended with the issuance of the South Korea’s first own design of a postcard with the unissued 1946 “Liberation” postcard , Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) UPC1; and with that postcard’s first surcharge of May 1, 1947, KPSC […]

In 1958 the Korean National Tuberculosis Association would introduce the first multiple seals in the Christmas/TB seal series. There are two seals, each with a hand with a green sprout coming out of the hand. Other than the fact that there were two different seal images, there are few varieties of this seal known to […]

An article on the basic introduction of the use of Japanese postcards through 1946 by South Korea, ended with the issuance of the South Korea’s first own design of a postcard with the unissued 1946 “Liberation” postcard , Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) UPC1; and with that postcard’s first surcharge of May 1, 1947, KPSC […]

A problem which is very uncommon in most parts of the world is the Korean question of what to do with the fact that Koreans could use either (Korean) hangul or (Chinese) hanja characters when sending a telegram? While they can convey exactly the same message in Korean, the two writing systems are completely different […]

I became interested in South Korean stamps in the 1960’s. I especially liked the cute small sheets that came with most of their stamps. I really liked the prices as most of the stamps cost 9-10 cents each and the sheets were 12-15 cents each. As my interest grew I wanted to get the earlier […]

From the first printed stamps in South Korea in 1946 after the WWII, up to around 1953, many of those issues can be found printed as imperforated stamps, double printed stamps and stamps printed on both sides. The stamps were issued by the US Military from 1946-1948. On August 15, 1948, the South Korean government […]

During a 2022 stamp auction a cover showed up with a strange seal on the back of it. The cover was posted in North Korea in 1955, sent to what was at the time Czechoslovakia. The sender was probably a member of the NNSC or “Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission”, the committee which was supposed to […]

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) issued its first set of stamps on September 19, 1948 commemorating the establishment of the DPRK on September 9, 1948, Scott 14-15. The Scott numbers for North Korea 1 -13 are for used for the Soviet occupation era. Since those stamps were issued, North Korea has issued stamps […]

The academic publishers Routledge has just published a new book edited by Prof. Stanley D. Brunn of the University of Kentucky on the subject of stamps as a source for documentary research on political trends, changes and transitions. Stanley Brunn, along with Jack Child and David Scott, has been among the leading Anglophone scholars to […]

The South Korean government has been promoting the digitization of archives for several decades now. This is great for stamp collectors, as highly detailed information on South Korean postal and revenue stamps has come to light thanks to the efforts of South Korean archives. If you can read/write (type) Korean, a lot of information can […]

Once in a while we report on the KSS website on interesting items showing up in stamp auctions worldwide. Here are some of these items from the last few months from Cherrystone Auctions, Auktionshaus Christoph Gärtner and Chiswick Auctions, plus some Ebay items related to the Korean War.

A career choice brought me and my Korean stamp collection that I started 30 years ago, back to the ROK. Korea certainly has changed in numerous positive and interesting ways but much like the US, the pastime of stamp collecting seems to have lost some of its appeal to technology.

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) On 24 March 2023 KoreaPost issued a stamp issue commemorating “Korean Musicals”. The stamps were also issued in a minisheet of 2 x 6 stamps of 430 won each. The stamps were printed by Cartor for POSA.

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) On 22 February 2023 KoreaPost issued a stamp issue commemorating “Repatriated Cultural Heritage”. The stamps were also issued in a minisheet of 4 x 4 stamps of 430 won each. The stamps were printed by Royal Johan Enschedé for POSA.

(News from 조선우표사 / Korea Stamp Corporation) On 22 March 2023 the Korea Stamp Corporation issued a set of stamps showing “Natural Monuments”.

(News from 조선우표사 / Korea Stamp Corporation) On 20 March 2023 the Korea Stamp Corporation issued a set of stamps commemorating the “Military Parade Held in Celebration of the 75th Founding Anniversary of the Korean People’s Army”.