Shown here are 5 covers sent between June and September 1950 to North Korea. Covers no. 1-4 were sent by Soviet citizens of Korean ethnicity to their relatives or friends, who were living in the territory of North Korea. The sender of the fifth cover is presumably the wife of a Soviet officer, who at the time of this letter was possibly a military adviser, more specifically in the field of anti-aircraft artillery (as part of air defences). The addressee of cover 2 is still in school. That particular cover even comes with the original letter!
The senders of covers 3 and 4 work at fish factories on Sakhalin (formerly Japanese territory until 1945) and are writing to relatives in North Korea. They are part of a Korean community which to this very day still exists on Sakhalin.
Questions regarding these covers
All five covers were received from a Japanese dealer 15 years ago. There are questions. None of the covers have a Korean arrival cancellation. But why? Maybe KSS members know the answer to that question? It could be that these covers did not reach the addressees.
And how did the Japanese dealer get them in the first place? Apparently, these covers were not returned to the USSR so how did they end up in Japan? All the covers are dated Summer – Autumn 1950. Perhaps when the UN troops were in the territory of the DPRK, these covers ended up in the hands of UN soldiers?
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