How Stalin and Mao disappeared from the map of Pyongyang

After the Second World War quite a few cities in Western democracies had a “Stalin Street”. At the time this was quite understandable: the Soviet Union had from 1941 been an important ally against Nazi Germany. However, these streets disappeared overnight when the Soviet army invaded Hungary in 1956. The Stalinlaan in Amsterdam for instance […]

Continue Reading

KPC3473-3475: Geostationary Korea Multi Purpose Satellite GEO-KOMPSAT, Cheollian

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) On 21 January 2021 KoreaPost issued a set of stamps showing the “Geostationary Korea Multi Purpose Satellite GEO-KOMPSAT”, also named the “Cheollian”. The KOMPSAT or Korean Multi-Purpose Satellite is a series of South Korean multipurpose satellite for reconnaissance, communication, meteorological, environmental, agricultural and oceanographic monitoring applications.

Continue Reading

Lee Neung-hwa, an unknown historical figure and a stamp collector in a time of turmoil

In Joseon (Korea) in the 33rd year (1896) of King Gojong‘s rule a French person, Emile Martel (1874-1949), established the French Language School in Seoul as a governmental institute in Jong-ro-gu, now known as Susong-dong (Korean: 수송동). Martel arrived in Korea in July 1894 at the age of only twenty years old. Subsequently this school […]

Continue Reading

Reader’s Question: How to order from KoreaPost and what about all these new DPRK stamps?

We received a message from one of our readers, Peter, who has two questions. One is on the KoreaPost international stamp sales website and the inability to actually order something through that website, a point raised quite often by both KSS members and visitors of the KSS website. The other question is on North Korean […]

Continue Reading

The South Korean Stamp Scene (Part 9)

What follows is an update on my article of 1996 about the investment potential of South Korean stamps. In 1972 (when stamps were touted as investments) Linn’s Weekly Stamp News and others started “Investment Suggestions” which is now called the “Tip of the Week”. In about 1980 Linn’s began a “Trends of Stamp Values” which […]

Continue Reading

Classic Korea stamps and covers with Holcombe certificates (Rapp auction)

We are always on the look out for interesting Korean philatelic materials showing up in auctions. One noticeable item showing up in a Rapp auction (“Rapp Auktion Nr. 39 und Nr. 40 von 23. bis 28. November 2020“) is item nr. 2826. This item is listed in both German and English. The Korean items shown […]

Continue Reading

Testing the South Korean postal system after first liberation of Seoul

Shown here are two cards, one sent by correspondent Richard Johnston, the other by correspondent Charles Grutzner, both to their own (postal) addres. Neither were actually handled handled by the US Army-Air Force Postal Service, which means they probably do not qualify as ‘private usage’ in this instance. (See this KP article for the background […]

Continue Reading