Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
On May 1, 1957, a 30-hwan crane (鶴) postcard for foreign mail was issued, corresponding to the surface-mail postcard rate for overseas destinations. The design depicted one crane (鶴) and the double “hui” character, “喜” → “囍.” The printing colour was blue, and the paper was light yellow paper, 0.23–0.39 mm thick. It was printed […]
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This article, published in the June 2024 issue of Woopyo (우표) magazine, continues Kim Heon-sik’s (김헌식) insightful series exploring the field of modern Korean philately. In this installment, the author shifts focus from traditional postal history to living postal practices that connect people in contemporary society. By examining systems such as the Congratulatory and Condolence […]
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The election for members of the National Assembly, held in South Korea (남한) alone on 10 May 1948, was the first election in Korean history to be conducted according to the principles of universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage.
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The customized postal card, first issued on July 1, 2003, by the announcement of the Korea Post (Notice No. 2003-44, dated June 25, 2003), was Korea’s first-ever customized postal card. A customized postal card is a service in which a customer’s desired photo, family crest, logo, or advertisement text is printed together with the sender’s […]
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While reading the article “Korea’s Charity Surtax Stamps (1953–1977)” by Kim Heon-sik, director of the Korea Stamp Society, published in the December 2025 issue of Woopyo, I was able to resolve a question I had long held regarding a privately produced postcard from the Korean Empire period bearing a 10-jeon Plum Blossom definitive stamp that […]
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I recently purchased an accumulation of mainly Japanese postal cards, some commercially or postally used and some with first day postmarks. In this accumulation was this sole Korean postal card. I like adding items like this to my collection especially if they are uprated with a stamp or stamps like the one below.
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The first postcard issued in Korea was printed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry of the Korean Empire and was released on May 10, 1900, with a face value of 1 jeon. Subsequently, five types of postcards were printed domestically by the Korean Empire’s Bureau of Currency and released on February 1, 1901. […]
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On November 15, 1983, as per the Ministry of Communications’ Announcement No. 105 dated November 2, 1983, five types of greetings postal cards were issued, marking Korea’s first commemorative postal cards.
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On February 10, 1972, the Ministry of Home Affairs purchased 50,000 5-won standard postcards from the Ministry of Communications. The postcards had rubber stamps in red or blue ink with phrases such as “Saemaeul Movement,” “For Saemaeul Communication,” “For Saemaeul Leaders,” and “For Saemaeul Women Leaders.” These postcards, used by Minister of Home Affairs (then […]
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August 9, 1955, was the day when the postage for regular mail was increased by 100% according to Law No. 365. This doubled the rate about 8 months after the postcard rate was raised from 5 hwan to 10 hwan on January 1, 1955 (it’s said that during this period, New Year’s mail stamped with […]
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This postcard is an interesting example of a postcard which had been created for one purpose (a Christmas greeting to be sent by Korean soldiers) which was used by a Methodist missionary, Revd. Finis B. Jeffery, to a mission supporter in Texas in 1959 to both send a Christmas greeting, and to give the recipient […]
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An article on the basic introduction of the use of Japanese postcards through 1946 by South Korea, ended with the issuance of the South Korea’s first own design of a postcard with the unissued 1946 “Liberation” postcard , Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) UPC1; and with that postcard’s first surcharge of May 1, 1947, KPSC […]
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Most collectors of South Korean stamps are familiar with the 1946 set of Japanese stamps overprinted for use in US-occupied South Korea and revalued in Korean currency, i.e. cheon. These are listed in the Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) as numbers R1-R6 and in Scott as numbers 55-60. They were issued some months after the […]
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One of our Korea Stamp Society members has the fortune to have in his collection a genuinely postally used postcard that was mailed just before the start of the Korean War in 1950. At the time of the purchase, our member did not realize the significance of the postcard; he was just interested in obtaining […]
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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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During the Korean War (1950-1953) and for at least a decade after the war South Korea (ROK) was counted amongst the poorest nations in the world. As late as the early 1960s the average Ethiopian or Ugandan was richer than the average South Korean. And yes, even the average North Korean was (probably) richer than […]
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Two post cards, part of a set commemorating the ROK 1955 Expo. These two post cards were made by the Huimangsa 希望社 · 製 for the industrial exhibition commemorating the tenth anniversary of liberation 解放十週年產業博覽會記念. This refers to August 15, 1945, commemorated in both the ROK and DPRK as the date Korea was liberated from […]
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The Korea Stamp Corporation, the stamp issuing organization of the DPRK (North Korea), generally creates stamp along several lines of themes. One of those common themes is something along the lines of “the eternal fight for the motherland against our enemies”. The thing is: the official feelings towards these enemies, whomever they may be (usually […]
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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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Sometimes something comes up by accident which may be too good to be true. Or not, of course. One such item is this quite attractive card. It is a Japanese produced postal card of 5 sen which was used in South Korea as a card worth 5 jeon, uprated with another stamp for 5 jeon, […]
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