Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
Subjects related to the philatelic history of North Korea (DPRK).
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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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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The Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (CPV) had entered North Korea in October 1950, in response to the perceived threat to the year-old People’s Republic of China from the rapidly-advancing UN forces during the fifth month of the Korean War. The swift advances made by the (North) Korean People’s Army after they crossed the 38th Parallel […]
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The Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (CPV) had entered North Korea in October 1950, in response to the perceived threat to the year-old People’s Republic of China from the rapidly-advancing UN forces during the fifth month of the Korean War. The swift advances made by the (North) Korean People’s Army after they crossed the 38th Parallel […]
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The article “Military Postal Correspondence: Korean War, Korean Army Mail to the Soviet Union” by Peter Corson shows a series of North Korean military covers from a philatelic exhibit. But what were these covers about? And what message was sent through such a cover?
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To many collectors the basic rule of stamp collecting is to collect quality stamps. Generally speaking that means buying stamps in mint condition which could be used as an investment to fetch top dollar in the future. However, the collection as shown here are simply my stamp purchases done while staying in North Korea. Such […]
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In the article I wrote on the Korean 1952 TB/Christmas seal, I briefly discussed Dr. Moon’s autobiography, “A Fly Stuck to the Tail of Chollima”. As noted in the article, the Chollima is a mythical winged horse originally from Chinese classic literature and is seen across East-Asian literature.
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For anyone studying Korean postage stamps and postal stationery, understanding the structure of the Korean language and the Korean alphabet will enrich the understanding of any material which you have. The Korean language is highly structured and regular. Some sixty percent of its vocabulary derives from written Chinese (called in Korean Hanja 漢字).
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It is interesting to study geography through postal history. Recently I acquired this postcard. I noticed it because the sender’s address was written as “KyongSong”, the old name of Seoul during the Japanese colonial era. So at the first glance it seems this was a card sent from the South to the North.
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For the International Youth Stamps Collectors’ Exhibition Europhila 2010 on October 2-3, 2010 in Stockholm, the KSC agreed to issue a special overprinted exhibition sheetlet as well as one overprinted postcard and one overprinted entire. Organizer of the Europhila Expo was the Swedish Stamp Youth, the Stockholm district, SFU. 25 children and youth from Belgium, […]
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(Note: this article is a follow-up to the article from Lloyd Heath republished in December 2019.) I am happy to be able to provide an illustration (Fig. 1), and some observations, of this extremely special item of post-war Korean postal history. The sender’s address on this cover (using the Northern Korean transliteration of place names) […]
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(Text by James Kerr, originally published in KP Vol. XLV No. 2, May 1999, images from Peter Corson’s collection) Michael Rogers, Inc. has received the illustrated collection that follows. Michael Rogers has graciously allowed KP to reproduce this marvelous study of correspondence from the Northern Korean Army to the Soviet Union in 1953 during the […]
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(Originally published in Korean Philately Vol LIII No. 3 (August 2008)) I went back to the Seoul Stamp Co. booth to see what I could find out about the North Korean stamps that they had on display. I found out that the 80% that I understood yesterday to be the price was actually the discount. […]
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(Originally published in KP Vol. XLV No. 4 November 1999) I have just finished a casual comparison (I say casual because I did not use a perforation gauge or measuring ruler) of the North Korean train issue of 1976, Michel numbers 1555-1561 and Block 32. The DPRK, Catalogue numbers are 1529-1534 (set), 1535 (s/s), and […]
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Whether its intentional or simply a mistake, there are is no shortage of varieties of North Korean stamps. Stamp varieties make collecting fun and they are a big part of our hobby. The varieties you look for depend on your preferences as a collector. Errors during printing are among the most highly desired stamp varieties.
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In August 2016, I contacted my then contact person in Korea Stamp Corporation, the North Korean state stamp agency, KSC, Moscow branch. I knew him since the Nordia 2005 Stamp Expo in Gothenburg. We had already co-operated 4 times before, in 2008, 2010 and 2015, in issuing special North Korean stamps.
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The DPRK issued a souvenir sheet of Pyongyang folk park in 2013. This souvenir sheet depicts a view of this theme park and its face-value is 60 (30+30) won. However, the park was closed in 2016 and this souvenir sheet was withdrawn, 3 years after issuance. This is probably one of the most well-known modern […]
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The booklet was issued by the Ministry of Communications for the North Hamgyong Post Office, as part of the country-wide 10th anniversary of the Liberation commemoration, in August 1955. A set of commemorative stamps (all the stamps are perf 11), a postal stationery envelope and an extensive set of commemorative photographic postcards were produced for […]
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It all started with curiosity. I knew that I had a lot of stamps but didn’t really knew them. Like a normal person, the first thing that came across my mind was is it worth any money? With the help of Mr. Chen Yi Fu and Ivo Spanjersberg, I began to understand the value and […]
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Democratic Peoples’ Republic Korea (DPRK, North Korea) changed the face value of stamps under a new postage order from August 1 Juche 91 (2002). The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of the DPRK took a measure that those previously issued 91 postage stamps were overprinted with the new denomination to be used for a certain […]
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