Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
Philatelic history of Korea
A problem which is very uncommon in most parts of the world is the Korean question of what to do with the fact that Koreans could use either (Korean) hangul or (Chinese) hanja characters when sending a telegram? While they can convey exactly the same message in Korean, the two writing systems are completely different […]
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From the first printed stamps in South Korea in 1946 after the WWII, up to around 1953, many of those issues can be found printed as imperforated stamps, double printed stamps and stamps printed on both sides. The stamps were issued by the US Military from 1946-1948. On August 15, 1948, the South Korean government […]
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In 1919 the Japanese introduced “Postage Fee Paid” forms. These forms were used to pay for various kinds of mail matter in bulk. The official Japanese postal term was 郵便料金受領証原符 = Postage fee reception original form and is imprinted on top. The actual mail items received a circular bisected handstamp in characters “(post office name)/postage […]
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The topic of the Plum Blossom Essay was last seen on the Korea Stamp Society webpage back on August 7, 2019 in an article by Gary McLean.
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Back in 2018 a short article was published that described South Korea’s unusual souvenir sheet (S/S) that was issued in 1966 for commemorating the 6th Postal Week. What is unusual about this S/S is that it was only issued with a red overprint. There was not a single stamp issued to accompany it. The S/S […]
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Forward Note by Bob Finder: The following article by one of our members of the Korea Stamp Society (KSS) shows one of the key values of being a member of the KSS; that value is the gaining of new information about Korean philately from other members. With the collaboration of six different members of the […]
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(A recent listing of a postcard on Ebay led to a series of emails amongst active KSS members. James Grayson, who lived for several decades in Korea and knows a lot about the history of churches in Korea, created this text, together with Florian Eichhorn, in answer to the questions raised.) This post card forms […]
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On 20 August, 2021, Korea Post celebrated the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Kim Taegŏn (金大建, 1821-1846), the first Korean Roman Catholic priest, and a martyr. He was a member of a yangban or aristocratic family who had converted secretly to Catholicism, which was banned and persecuted in Korea until the end of the […]
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Gwendoline (은산-殷山) Post office was a simple postal branch which handled only postal matters of reception. Following are a few points regarding the office:
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Korea Post will issue two stamps on 12 August, 2022 in what appears to be a new series called ‘Foreign Advocates of Korean Independence’. The date of issue is close to ‘Liberation Day’ (해방의 날, Haebang-ŭi nal), 15 August, the date in 1945 when Japan surrendered, thus both ending the Second World War and her […]
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On 14 April, 2022, Korea Post issued a set of 8 stamps as part of its series Han’gug-ŭi yet kŏnch’uk (한국의 옛 건축, Korean Historic Architecture). There were also two sheets issued and a special cancellation. Four churches are commemorated – two Roman Catholic and two Anglican. Shown on the stamps of the churches are […]
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When the new KSS website was launched, I wrote an article about a number of Korean stamps I had been searching fo, that I was never able to find. There is an article titled “Do these Korean stamps actually exist?” that was published on November 30, 2018.
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Occasionally South Korean stamps show up on popular (stamp) auction websites with a 10 won overprint on them. But are these overprints real? According to John Sauer in his Monograph 1, Specialized Postal Stationery Catalog of the Republic of Korea, page 7, postal card KPC #PC15 was created with a 10 won surcharge on the […]
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In 1976, the DPRK released several souvenir sheets that differ (within the same catalog number) from each other. Differences in size, perforation, presence of glue, etc. can be found. The information in catalogs is somewhat different. The most notable example would be the Souvenir Sheet for release: Winners, 21st Olympic Games, Montreal.
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This year I was lucky enough to have bid on an auction and won this 1905 postal envelope of Missionary Horace Grant Underwood. The sender’s address is “FROM: H. G. UNDERWOOD,SEOUL, KOREA.”, receiver address is typed as “Tiffin Stamp Co, 160 N St. Tiffin Ohio, USA”. The envelope was franked with a 10 cent Eagle […]
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The Stamp Museum of Pyongyang is housed in a specially built three-floor building next to the well-known Koryo Hotel in downtown Pyongyang. The front of the building is designed in the shape of a stamp. In front of the building stands a bronze statue of a dove holding a postcard while flying around the earth […]
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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 […]
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On the occasion of Mao Zedong’s 100th birthday, the Korean Stamp Corporation (DPRK) issued a series of postal stationery in honor of Mao. The cards have three-dimensional images, which is why they are quite heavy and made of plastic; but it’s not the comical “wobbly images” often seen in 3D – that would probably not […]
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Mail between China and Korea after 1945 was not common, therefore it was difficult for collectors to get hold of such covers. Business contacts did not yet exist; the missionaries were paralyzed by war and civil wars and they lacked support from their home countries. It is probably no coincidence that the letter shown below […]
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This cover commemorates the appointment of Mark Clark and was sent by the Commander of the ROK Third Division to the Commander of the Ninth Division. General Mark Clark took over the United Nations Command on May 12, 1952, and held the position until July 27, 1953, when the armistice was signed.
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