Korea Stamp Society

The Korean Christmas Seals (1960)

July 31, 2019July 28, 2019 Lura McLane Smith (1885-1979)32531 Comment

I became interested in Korean Christmas Seals in 1936 when I was asked to cover the South Pyengan Province. Each year, thereafter, I sold more than anyone else. In the ninth year – 1940 – I sold all that were sold in that area as far as I know. This consisted of an order for […]

KSC5215K: Singpex 2019 36th Asian International Stamp Exhibition

July 31, 2019September 14, 2019 Per-Olof Jönsson11962 Comments

(News from 조선우표사 / Korea Stamp Corporation) The Korea Stamp Corporation has issued a souvenir sheet to mark “Singpex 2019 36th Asian International Stamp Exhibition” which was held in Singapore.

KPC3392-3393: Korea – India Joint Issue

July 30, 2019January 22, 2021 Ivo Spanjersberg89613 Comments

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) On 30 July 2019 KoreaPost released two stamps as a joint stamp issue with India. Because these stamps are a joint issue, the stamps have two designers: from Korea Shin Jae-yong (신재용), who is a prolific stamp designer, and from India Sankha Samantha, known for his Gandhi stamps.

KSC5215J: Lake Chon on Mount Paektu

July 29, 2019September 15, 2019 Per-Olof Jönsson1863Leave a Comment

(News from 조선우표사 / Korea Stamp Corporation) The Korea Stamp Corporation has issued a stamp to show Mount Paektu, an ancestral sacred mountain of Korean Revolution. The mountain, on which the revolutionary traditions of the country struck their root deep, instils the revolutionary spirit of Paektu, the spirit of blizzards of Paektu, in the Korea […]

Revenue stamps published 30 years apart used on the same day

July 27, 2019July 26, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg21351 Comment

Recently seen on Ebay (and purchased by the well-known revenue stamp collector Joe Ross): two South Korean documents with tax stamps. In itself, both stamps and the type of document are not particularly special: both stamps were easily available at the counter in South Korea until at least 2014, and unlike many types of documents […]

KoreaPost: “How to ask for this in English?”

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019 KP Online Editor24805 Comments

KoreaPost has done some forward thinking here. You must have been in this situation: you’re in a foreign country, where you can’t (properly) speak the language. Now how to ask for stamps? And that special type of post service? We might have a guidebook, but how much technical (postal) language is there in such a […]

First-Flight Cover, Hibiscus over North Pole

July 24, 2019August 21, 2019 Stanley Kim2406Leave a Comment

The SAS (Scandinavian Airline System) opened a polar shortcut on February 24, 1957, flying an SAS DC-7C from Copenhagen, Denmark via Anchorage, Alaska to Tokyo, Japan. This new North Pole shortcut shortened the flying time between Denmark and Japan from 50 hours to 32 hours.

Korean Stamp Album Pages

July 21, 2019October 16, 2019 Maynard Redeker509514 Comments

During the course of collecting South Korean stamps since 1983 the problem of how to store the collection is always a difficult one. Stamp album page published by various companies are the traditional method for keeping a collection for easy access and viewing. Using Showgard or comparable stamp mounts preserves the stamps well but the […]

Download (KSS members only): “KSS Monograph 1: Korean Postal Stationery Catalog”

July 20, 2019July 19, 2019 KP Online Editor1624Leave a Comment

In 1986/1987 KSS member John J. Sauer published “KSS Monograph 1: Korean Postal Stationery Catalog”. This 32 page publication was published according to the front-page “in lieu of the missing volumes and partial volumes of the past three years”.

Dr. Hall Was a Stamp Collector Too!

July 17, 2019January 8, 2019 Robert (Bob) Finder1216Leave a Comment

Dr. Sherwood Hall, the creator of the Korean tuberculosis Christmas and New Year seals, was an avid stamp collector. His hobby of collecting of stamps, besides his knowledge of how the seals successfully raised money in other countries to fight tuberculosis, probably contributed to his original idea to promote the seals in Korea to fight […]

KoreaPost: Looking for a hobby? Stamps are the answer!

July 14, 2019July 14, 2019 KP Online Editor21263 Comments

KoreaPost has just released new promotional materials promoting stamp collecting as a hobby to Koreans. In the case of KSS members this is of course “preaching to the choir”, we all know what a great hobby philately is. However, KoreaPost is putting this on Facebook for possible newcomers to the hobby. The different images show […]

North Korea’s Interpretation in 1959 of the Korean War

July 13, 2019July 13, 2019 James H. Grayson21663 Comments

On 25 June, 1950, the DPRK invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in a war for the unification of the nation. Due to immediate United Nations military action this invasion was unsuccessful. An armistice agreement was signed between the UN forces and the forces of the DPRK and the People’s Republic of China on […]

KPC3391: 18th FINA World Championships – Gwangju

July 12, 2019July 2, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg1802Leave a Comment

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) On 12 July 2019 KoreaPost released a stamp commemorating the 18th FINA World Championships, held in Gwangju from July 12-28 2019. According to the FINA website “The Organisers have announced that about 4,500 athletes and officials from around 190 countries have registered for the World Championships, the largest ever hosted […]

What happened to the DPRK new issues?

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019 KP Online Editor1176Leave a Comment

For some time there has been no new issue news regarding DPRK stamp releases. The reason for this is very simple: the Korea Stamp Corporation, the stamp selling organization of the DPRK, didn’t release any new online news. However, the new issue leaflets do show three new stamps/series.

A DPRK Reprint Variety

July 10, 2019January 8, 2019 Kevin MacKeown12551 Comment

There is an irony in the fact that the reprint of, arguably, the rarest of all North Korean stamps, the 1948 Labor Law issue, SG N11, is among the most common of these often despised reprints, both in perforated and imperforated condition. It is also among the small number of such reprints of which postally […]

KoreaPost Video: “The springtime of my life is always now!”

July 9, 2019July 7, 2019 KP Online Editor1176Leave a Comment

KoreaPost release a new video on their YouTube channel. The video shows an artist creating professional style calligraphy on an envelope inspired by the 2018 “Post Culture Week” stamps. These stamps, released in October 2018, were meant to promote letter writing. The video shows how far this can be taken.

Stamp folder with 2007 Yi Jun stamp sheet shows up

July 6, 2019May 2, 2021 Ivo Spanjersberg18771 Comment

On a recent visit to the Yi Jun Peace Museum in The Hague (The Netherlands) something unknown showed up: a presentation folder of the 2007 stamps commemorating the centenary of the unfortunate death of Yi Jun in The Hague in 1907, a subject written about before in Korean Philately magazine.

First Flight Before “Normalization” between Japan and Korea

July 3, 2019August 21, 2019 Stanley Kim1289Leave a Comment

Diplomatic normalization between the Republic of Korea and Japan came in 1965. The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea was signed on June 22, 1965, to establish a basic relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea following liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945. It took almost twenty years just […]

KoreaPost releases materials for new regular stamp values

July 2, 2019July 1, 2019 KP Online Editor974Leave a Comment

KoreaPost created materials for the three new regular stamp values released on 1 July 2019. These materials come in two forms: the monthly “wallpaper” showing the latest high value stamp of 2180 won, while the other materials form a set showing all the new values.

KPC3388-3390: 380 / 470 / 2180 won values (regular issues)

July 1, 2019June 21, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg4496Leave a Comment

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) On 1 July 2019 KoreaPost released three new stamps for the current regular stamp series with values of 380, 470 and 2180 won. These stamps were introduced to fit in with recent changes in the pricing of postal services. For instance, 50 won were added to the basic rate (25 […]