Reader’s Question: Name of designer of 1984 cosmonaut stamp?

(Editor: a question from reader Petr from the Czech Republic:) Do you know who is the stamp designer of the North Korean stamp 1984 year Scott Nr 2429-2431, Michel 2522-2524? The stamp with Tereskhova is important for me, that is with a value of 10. In my exhibit about Tereskhova, I have two original artworks […]

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Some more examples of North Korean stamp varieties

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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The August 1955 Chongjin Booklet

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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Rare 1945 Soviet overprints or fantasy stamps?

In the September 2019 KSS Newsletter I showed a stamp from an Ebay auction. The stamp itself was not remarkable: a very common Japanese 8 sen stamp from the first Showa series (Sakura 229, Scott 265, 1939) with an overprint showing a “Rose of Sharon”, the Korean empire/kingdom flower showed to these days on South […]

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North Korea’s Interpretation in 1959 of the Korean War

On 25 June, 1950, the DPRK invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in a war for the unification of the nation. Due to immediate United Nations military action this invasion was unsuccessful. An armistice agreement was signed between the UN forces and the forces of the DPRK and the People’s Republic of China on […]

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A Note on the 2002 North Korean Surcharges

Watching the endless stream of opportunistic issues, largely directed at gullible collectors, coming out from North Korea year after year, it is a pleasant philatelic experience to encounter something unexpected from this source. It has, of course, occurred in the recent past with the discovery of the domestic paper varieties – the ‘yellow paper’ issues […]

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Reader’s Question: Too early day of issue of DPRK stamps?

(Reader’s question/Q&A) While browsing Ebay I recently ran into a listing which I first thought had read incorrectly. It was the “The 80th Anniversary of the Victorious Battles in the Musan Area” set of stamps, with a date of publication of 22 May 2019. However, despite these stamps’ future day of issue here they were, available […]

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The “Back Stories” of Unissued Stamps of The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The greatest difficultly in studying DPRK stamps is that reliable references are very limited in number, and the information available might be incomplete or even incorrect. Some stamps are without images in catalogues, some are unissued; and once in a while, collectors may surprisingly find something they have never seen or known before. However, it […]

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