Korea Post History and Postage Stamps

In the second half of the XIX century, Korea, formerly a strictly isolationist country, began to open up to international contacts and connections. Until 1884, the delivery of mail in the country was carried out by Chinese post offices . In 1884, the postal service was reformed ^[1] .

On January 1, 1900, Korea became a member of the UPU, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the Korean postal service was reorganized along the lines of French mail ^[1] .

State Chosun

On November 18, 1884, the first postage stamps on the Korean Peninsula were issued for the postage needs of the then Joseon State (during the reign of the Li dynasty, which lasted until 1897). The issue was prepared in connection with the establishment of the first Korean postal service. Although five denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 munov were printed, only stamps with a nominal value of 5 mn were sold (with inscriptions in Chinese and Korean:?) ^[≡] and in 10 muns (with the inscription: Eng. “Corean Post” - “Korean Post”) ^[1] , and even they were few in circulation since the post office burned down during the December 1884 uprising ^[2] .

The next series of postage stamps appeared only in 1895–1996 and consisted of four denominations: 5, 10, 25, 50 poons, and all the stamps had the same picture with the image of the symbol . There are several different percussion ^[1] .

Korean Empire

In connection with the proclamation in October 1897 of the Korean Empire, on stamps of this series an overprint was made in Chinese and Korean: Chamor. “?” And cor. "Dae Han" ("Empire of Korea"), and in the same month they went into circulation. In some post offices, the inscription was made by hand, now these postage stamps are a significant rarity ^[1] .

In 1900, an overprint of a new denomination of 1 point appeared on the postage stamps of the same series.

The transition to a new currency ( Rin , Chon and Won ) in 1900 led to the need to issue new postage stamps, and accordingly in 1900-1901 a standard series of 13 stamps with a nominal value of 2 Ryn to 2 won was issued, meeting the requirements of the Universal Postal Union, in which Korea entered in January 1900. Despite the fact that all the drawings had a common theme - the “heguq” symbol, the frames of all the brands differed, with the three highest denominations each being printed in two colors. On the postage stamps inscriptions: English. "Imperial Corean Post" and cor. “?” (“Imperial Korean Post”) ^[1] .

In 1902 on five of them overprints of new denominations were made using black hand stamps.

Korea issued the first (and only) commemorative stamp on October 18, 1902 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Kojon (although the emperor ascended the throne in 1864). A commemorative stamp was issued with and without teeth. ^[1] An orange stamp depicts an imperial crown.

In 1903, a new series of 13 postage stamps appeared depicting the symbol of the imperial falcon. The stamps of this series were printed in Paris and contained inscriptions in French, Korean, and Japanese: Postes Imperiales de Coree , Cor. ? yap ? ("Imperial Korean Post") ^[1] .

At the beginning of 1905, three stamps of the highest denominations of the 1903 series were republished on thin paper and became the last postage stamps of Korea ^[1] .

Inscriptions on Korean postage stamps: English Korean Post , Fr. Postes de Coree (Korean Post); English Korea (“Korea”) ^[1] .

The Japanese consular post was opened in Korea in 1900. At the same time, the postage stamps of Japan for the issues of 1899–1900 were used, which were overprinted with the two hieroglyphs of the Japanese word "Korea" ( Jap. 朝鮮 Cho: Sen ) . In addition, a commemorative stamp was issued. In April 1901, these brands ceased to use, replacing them with Japanese brands. The stamps of Japanese mail in China were also used ^[3] .

In May 1905, the Korean postal service passed under the control of the Japanese ^[1] . After the final annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, only postage stamps of Japan began to circulate ^[3] . They were used for all mailings and remained in circulation until 1945, when Korea was liberated from the Japanese occupation ^[1] .

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• Korea // Big Philatelic Dictionary / N. I. Vladinets, L. I. Illychev, I. Ya. Levitas ... [and others ] ; under total ed. N. I. Vladintsa and V. A. Jacobs. - M .: Radio and communication, 1988. - P. 144. - 40 000 copies. - ISBN 5-256-00175-2 .
• Korea // Philatelic Geography (Foreign Countries): A Handbook / L. L. Lepeshinsky. - M .: Communication, 1967. - p. 178. - 480 p.
• Rossiter S., Fowler J. World History Stamp Atlas. - Reprint. - L .: Macdonald (Black Cat), 1991. - 336 p. - ISBN 0-7481-0309-0 . (eng.)
• Scott 2007. Standard Postage Stamp Catalog. - New York, NY, USA: Scott, 2006. (English)

• Korea. Encyclopaedia of Postal History (English) . Stampsite: The Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities . - Information about the stamps of Korea in the database "Encyclopedia of the history of mail. Encyclopedia of postal departments. The appeal date is September 19, 2011. Archived September 23, 2008.
• Korea - Postage stamps (1884–1904) (Unc.) . Catalog: Aisa . StampWorld.com (2015). The appeal date is December 23, 2015. Archived December 23, 2015.