Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
Philatelic history of Korea
Outside the USSR, after 1946 field post correspondence was only used by Soviet troops in occupied territories (e.g., Korea, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, etc.). Registered letters sent through field post offices after 1946 are extremely rare and normally have NO censor mark. Moreover, no international letters sent with Field Post cancellations from the Russian army […]
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One of our readers, Jordan, sent scans of four complete sheets of North Korean stamps asking what we know about these particular stamps. The first thing to do when answering such questions is to look through either the “Korean Stamp Catalogue 1946-2015” (if the stamps were issued before December 2015) or on the Korea Stamp […]
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Most stamp dealers have a specialization, some field of (philatelic) interest which make them stand apart from other dealers. But there are few stamp dealers like Willem van der Bijl, whose small shop in the historic city center of Utrecht in the Netherlands belies the importance of his collection of North Korean materials, both philatelic […]
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Preface: This series of articles derive from discussions among several KSS member collectors. Some of them are interested in collecting Korean (and Japanese) philatelic items but feel confused in distinguishing different surcharges of early Korean postal stationeries since they cannot read Hanja and Hangul. See here for part I about the usage of these cards […]
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We are very fortunate, as it turns out, that one of our Board members, Florian Eichhorn, has previously done quite a bit of research on the postcard, showing a Japanese woman tossing Korean stamps into the air, that was briefly discussed on the KSS website. It was not an anti-Japanese propaganda item, as I had […]
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[Editor: this article was first published in KP Vol. 46 No. 4. Recently however Alexander has send us a lot of full-colour scans of the stamps, which means they can now be shown in much more detail.] I am illustrating a number of North Korean varieties that have not been catalogued.
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Recently I was attracted to a “wood” Korean Christmas Card mailed from Korea to Florida, USA in the late 1920’s. I had never seen one like this before and bought it. When I received it, I was pleasantly surprised how beautiful it was, when I actually saw the card itself. The wooden card has a […]
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(Editor) Willem van der Bijl is one of the world’s foremost dealers of North Korean philatelic materials. In his collection are many unique items, which, until he managed to acquire them, were unknown to the philatelic world. However, given the unique economic situation in North Korea he also managed to accidentally create a completely new […]
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The Catholic Church in Korea started when Yi Sŭnghun came back from China after he had been baptized. He met Yi Pyŏk and Chŏng Yakchŏn, and together they built a faith community. The community remained viable even after small and large persecutions (about 10) during the almost 100 year long period starting with the Sinhae […]
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Preface: This series of articles derive from discussions among several KSS member collectors. Some of them are interested in collecting Korean (and Japanese) philatelic items but feel confused in distinguishing different surcharges of early Korean postal stationeries since they cannot read Hanja and Hangul.
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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 […]
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Recently I purchased a postcard showing a Japanese woman throwing images of the first Korean stamps into the air and it intrigued me what this postcard represented. Does any reader know the story behind this postcard? Is it a propaganda anti-Japanese postcard? Where there any other types of these postcards printed?
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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 […]
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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 […]
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The second stamp in the Taegeuk series is the 10 poon. The stamp is designated Scott #7 deep blue (both printings), KPSC #4 (1st printing; #4a 2nd printing and Minkus #4. Black and white images and data are from Brady-Tyler, Zirkel, G. La Francesca and colour images and data are from MikeG Canada (Stampboards), Florian […]
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In 1957 Korea introduced the first of its Christmas and New Year stamps and souvenir sheets. These were quite attractive and colourful. They also appealed to children stamp collectors and in fact, this is why I started to collect Korean stamps when I was a child. I loved the little colourful souvenir sheets. The individual […]
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This story begins on 1 December 1951 during the breakout from the inlet. I was a Sergeant with Colonel MacLean’s forward CP when the Chinese first attacked the night of 27 November, 1951. Milo Paynovich and I left the perimeter walking along the edge of the reservoir. We came to an area where logs were […]
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In 1951 Korea issued a series of 42 stamps featuring flags of 21 countries that provided assistance in the Korean War (June 1950- July1953). Armed forces were sent from 16 United Nations countries, most from the United States. Five others, including Italy, the only Non-member State to participate (becoming a member on 14 December 1955), […]
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After the Korean War for well over a decade the economic development of South Korea was at a stand still. The country was considered an economic “basket case”. However, during Park Chung-hee’s reign the country began to grow rapidly. One visible effect were the many newly constructed roads and bridges, which featured a lot on […]
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Japanese control of Korea ended with the surrender on 15 August 1945 of the Imperial armed forces. Decisions made at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 were implemented after the surrender. The primary actions taken were the division of the Korean peninsula arbitrarily at the 38th Parallel, with the northern zone to be occupied by […]
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