Are the Designs of North Korea’s (DPRK) Stamps commemorating the creation of the DPRK Flag and National Emblem based On a Painting?

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 […]

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Simple ways to identify stamps from Chosun Dynasty, North Korea and South Korea

One of our newest Korea Stamp Society members asked the Korea Stamp Society for information on how to tell the differences between South and North Korean stamps. As most of our articles on the KSS website are on specialized topics about Korean philately, we thought it would be good to write an article about identifying […]

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What do we know about these North Korean revenue stamps?

A KSS member asks about North Korean revenue stamps: what do we know about these? “A small number of stamps, many duplicates. I do not specifically collect such stamps, but sometimes buy them. Are these stamps all North Korean? I read that there is a catalog of Korean (or North Korean) revenue stamps, but I […]

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Buyer Beware… Again! Korea First Issue Essay

I spotted this on an archived Delcampe sold file of a highly-questionable Dealer located in France. In my fifty-five-plus years collecting, researching and specializing in Empire Korea material I have never seen, or heard, of this item. This sold for 300 Euros. Apparently, it is the same item that was discussed in this article on […]

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Stamp essay of 1884 5 mun stamp in Spink auction: do we know more about this item?

In Spink’s auction of 12 January 2020 a rather strange item showed up. No, the type of item is not strange, stamp essays are quite commonly available. Actually, one might even say some essays are too common, just have a look at Willem van der Bijl’s article on the subject of North Korean “artworks” in […]

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Reader’s Question: How much to send an envelope from North Korea to the USA in 1978?

Marci Jarvis, editor of Cat Mews (which is the magazine of the Cats on Stamps Study Unit) has a question with regards to the postage on this envelope. The Korean Stamp Corporation (KSC) sent it to the then editor of Topical Time, Jerry Husak, the founder of the American Topical Association. On it are a […]

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Reader’s Question: Why these strange North Korean stamp issues?

Leafing through the catalog of DPRK stamps and analyzing the policy of themes and stories on the stamps, I had several questions. Perhaps you, or other KSS members, can help me with the answer. Starting in 1946 to issue postage stamps with neutral themes (Rosa of Sharon, Diamond Mountains), the postal administration expanded the themes […]

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Readers Question: Chōsen Sotokufu Teishin Kyoku Card?

My question concerns a card that was issued by Chōsen Sotokufu Teishin Kyoku and features a picture of chickens with an inscription in Korean. It appears that the design could have been issued as a New Year greeting. The Teishin Kyoku issued a set of post cards on October 1, 1910 commemorating the opening of […]

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Soviet Bloc Charity Seals for North Korea—what are they?

Recently I was looking for Korean Relief philatelic related material, the type of which I have written about in past articles for the Korea Stamp Society’s website and Korean Philatelic magazine. While doing this, I found a couple of sets of seals from Hungary offered by a Hungarian stamp dealer on Delcampe that appear to […]

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Reader’s question: Why are local 1930s revenue stamps never offered “used on document”?

Since first seeing a South Korean revenue stamp in 2010 (when I needed one for a visa document while already in Korea) I have been collecting information about Korean revenue stamps. What is noticeable in my database of 6000+ notes on Korean revenue stamps that some stamps are very easy to collect “used on document” […]

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Follow-up to Member’s Request for used stamps from North Korea (DPRK)

Come On!!! (A “shout out” popularized by the Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt). Surely at least one of our Korea Stamp Society (KSS) members has some used North Korean stamps that they would like to share with one of our newer members, Paul Scholtens! On December 5, 2020 we published a short article (put in […]

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Reader’s Question: What’s the type of bus on this North Korean stamp?

On the KSS Facebook page someone asked about the KSC195 (Stalin Street): “Is it possible to identify the type of bus?” That’s actually a great question! And also an intriguing challenge. So, we had a look around for an answer. Turns out with a bit of research we actually managed to discover the (very probable) […]

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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 […]

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New KSS Member Wishes to Trade for Used North Korean Stamps

My name is Paul Scholtens and I live in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. During the Covid-19 pandemic I have been doing a lot of work on my collection. I am a 74 years old, social and general interest collector who collects stamps from all over the world. I like the information you can […]

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