Ready for more wonderful designs from the South Korea 2022 stamp program? It’s one of the countries I wander off too (via the internet) weekly, waiting for the first stamps to appear. So, why haven’t I posted them sooner? Korea is one of those countries that sends me down endless fascinating research paths. It’s high on my “I’d love to visit in real life” list, which in turn means I get hopelessly sidetracked with articles about Korean history, literature etc. And don’t get me started on Korean ghost stories! Mind you, it’s fun, it just doesn’t get the work done.
This year I’ve included more original Korean writing in the listings. I’m never sure if the translations are accurate, so I prefer to offer original information. If you find an error in translation, let me know. I have a number of readers who often drop notes to either untangle what I’ve written, or to offer a bit of clarity to a theme or topic.
Oh yeah, we have more cancels
Korea issues a combination of cancels to accompany their stamps as well as one-off commemoratives. Last year was a year of delights when it came to cancels. Top of the heap on any list, has to be this dragon for the Mysterious Animals in the Palace stamps.
You can’t go wrong with a classic dragon.
Returning themes
Fans of classic Korean art and architecture will be thrilled to see returns of the Precious Cultural Heritage Rediscovered, Folding Screens, and Old Architecture. As well, the ever popular Protected Marine Animals returns for a 5th year.
Lots of great collectable material to hunt down. Forgive me if I post too much information, I can’t help myself. I get so excited about the stories behind Korea’s stamps, that I can’t imagine anyone else not sharing my unfettered delight.
Cheers
Catpaw
February
Joseon Royal Court / 조선 왕실 어진
2 stamps, sheet of 12, 2 cancels
The painting of royal figures during the Joseon dynasty was fraught with problems:
The Joseon royal family considered it blasphemous to portray the king’s image indiscriminately and forbade it, and strictly controlled the production and management of portraits. According to the king’s command, the royal portrait was made with strict procedures and formalities. Since the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty has been making royal dishes steadily, and the tradition has been maintained until the end of the Joseon Dynasty. However, most of the royal portraits of the early Joseon Dynasty were lost during the war, and most of the royal portraits of the late Joseon Dynasty were also burned or damaged in a fire while being moved to Busan during the Korean War. Currently, there are three kings of Joseon whose faces can only be recognized as a royal portrait: Taejo, Yeongjo, and Cheoljong. However, in the case of King Sejo, a copy of the portrait of the Emperor made in the 1930s has been handed down, so you can guess what it looked like. Each institution that currently owns the portraits is making steady efforts to preserve the portraits, such as preservation, restoration, and copying. 조선 왕실 어진 – 우표 상세보기 – 한국우표 – 한국우표포털서비스 K-stamp (epost.go.kr)
The Joseon Dynasty was founded by 이성계 Yi Seong-gye in 1392 and lasted until 1897. The two portraits are:
- 조선 태조 어진 | King Taejo of Joseon (이성계 Yi Seong-gye) was founder of the Joseon dynasty and reigned from 1392 to 1398 when he abdicated in favour of his brother Yi Bang-won.
- 조선 영조 어진 | Joseon King Yeongjo reigned from 1724 to 1776.
Designer: 김미화 | Kim Mi-Hwa
Previous stamps include the 2021 Definitives
Release date: February 7, 2022
다시 찾은 소중한 문화유산 | Precious cultural heritage rediscovered
4 stamps, sheet of 16, info sheet, 4 FDCs, cancel
Although the following link does not deal specifically with the 4 items shown in these stamps, it offers a valuable perspective in why recovering these artifacts are so important and how Korea is going about recovering their national treasures.
The cultural properties of a country, whether they are deemed national treasures or not, are valuable parts of that country’s story. They are seen as physical representations of national identity. Because of their historical significance, countries make every effort to preserve them well and use them to educate the next generation. August 27, 2019 [FORGOTTEN TREASURES] Preserving Korea’s artifacts worldwide: Partnerships with museums ensure that treasures are kept track of (joins.com) (in English)
- 신정왕후 왕세자빈 책봉 죽책 | Queen Shinjeong Crown Prince Jabin Chaebong Bamboo Book – This book was created in 1819 and found it’s way to Europe where it remained until 2017 when it came up for auction in France. The book was purchased by the Ministry of Culture and the National Palace Museum with donations from gaming company Riot Gaming.
- 영친왕 곤룡포 | King Yeongchin Gonryongpo worn on the king’s return from Japan in 1922. It was part of the National Museum of Japan collection from 1957 and returned to Korea 1991.
- 덕온공주 인장 | Seal of Princess Deokon (1822-1844), the last princess of the Joseon Dynasty, appeared at a Christies Auction in NYC in 2018.
- 영친왕비 백옥나비단작노리개 | Queen Yeongchin’s white jade butterfly, simple plaything from 1941. Repatriated to Korea from Japan in 1991.
Designer: unknown
Release date: February 14, 2022
March
윤용하 탄생 100주년 | Yun Yong-Ha’s 100th birthday
2022 원도포맷 2 2
1 stamp, sheet of 16, cancel, info sheet
Yun Yong-Ha “wrote songs celebrating Korea’s liberation, “gwangbok song”, and “barley field”, a representative song of Korea, and comforted many people with lyrical melodies”.
Designer: 신재용 | Shin Jae-Yong
Shin Jae-Yong designed 3 stamp sets s in 202 – Repatriated Treasured Cultural Heritage, Korean Aircraft, Hanboks For Children and a commemorative cancel 30th Yeongwoeleu Show.
Release date: March 16, 2022
한국YWCA 창립 100주년 | 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF YWCA KOREA
1 stamp, cancel, info sheet
Release date: March 25, 2022
책가도 병풍 | Chaekado Folding Screen
10 stamps, sheet of 20, cancel, info sheet
This stamp, when folded along the vertical perfs will stand up like a folding screen. A Chaekado is a folding screen, used to display books, ceramics, flowers etc. The Chaekado has a fascinating history in Korea, but here’s a very brief explanations from Korean post office’s website. The translation is from Google Translate, so I included the original for my Korean speaking audience. Feel free to correct the wonky translation and apologies for any errors. (Italics are mine)
19세기 최고의 책가도 화가로 손꼽히는 사람은 이형록입니다. 이형록은 대대로 도화서환원을 배출한 집안에서 성장했습니다. 아버지 이윤민도 책가도로 이름을 남겼고, 손자인 이덕영까지 이를 잘 그려 집안에서 화법을 계승했음을 알 수 있습니다. 그중 이형록의 대표작인 ‘책가도 병풍’은 총 10폭으로 구성된 걸작입니다. 병풍의 왼쪽 두 번째 폭에서 두 번째 단 위에 있는 인장함의 도장에 ‘이응록인(李膺祿印)’이라 적혀있어 작가를 알 수 있습니다. ‘이응록’은 이형록이 57세 때 개명한 이름입니다. 그는 생애 동안 두 번 개명했는데, 1864년에 이형록에서 이응록으로, 1871년에 이응록에서 이택균으로 개명했습니다. 따라서 이 작품은 1864년에서 1871년 사이에 그려진 것으로 추정됩니다. 그림을 자세히 보면 책장 칸의 옆면은 안쪽으로 들어갈수록 어두워지며, 책은 위치에 따라 대각선으로 비스듬하게 그려져 있습니다. 이처럼 책가도 병풍은 서양화의 투시도법과 명암법을 응용하여 공간감과 입체감이 두드러지는 것이 특징입니다. 그리고 이 작품에는 책과 문방구 외에도 새로운 서양 기물인 시계가 등장하고, 철쭉, 수선화, 국화, 모란 등의 꽃이 그려져 있습니다. 이는 모두 길상의 의미를 담고 있습니다.
Lee Hyeong-rok is considered one of the greatest bookmakers and painters of the 19th century. Lee Hyeong-rok grew up in a family that produced a dohwaseo reduction for generations. His father Yun-min Lee also left a name on the road to books, and it can be seen that his grandson Lee Deok-young also drew it well and inherited the method of speech in his family. Among them, Lee Hyeong-rok’s representative work ‘Chaekado Screening’ is a masterpiece composed of a total of 10 pages. On the seal of the seal box located on the second tier from the second to the left of the screen, ‘Lee Eung-rok-in (李膺祿印)’ is written, so you can know the artist. ‘Lee Eung-rok’ was the name that Hyeong-rok Lee changed when he was 57 years old. He changed his name twice during his lifetime, from Lee Hyeong-rok to Lee Eung-rok in 1864 and from Lee Eung-rok to Lee Taek-gyun in 1871. Therefore, it is believed that this work was painted between 1864 and 1871. If you look closely at the picture, the side of the bookcase compartment gets darker as you go inward, and the books are drawn diagonally depending on their location. As such, the Chakgado folding screen is characterized by a sense of space and three-dimensional effect by applying the perspective and contrast methods of Western paintings. In addition to books and stationery, a clock, a new Western tool, appears in this work, and flowers such as azaleas, daffodils, chrysanthemums, and peonies are depicted. All of these have auspicious meaning.
Artist: Lee Hyung-Rok “Chaekado Screen”. This didn’t translate well, so I’ve taken the title from the description. Here’s the original 이형록의 책가도 병풍
Release date: March 30, 2022
April
제15차 세계산림총회 | 15th World Forest Meeting
1 stamp, sheet of 16, cancel, info sheet
Building a Green, Healthy and Resilient Future with Forests
2–6 May 2022 | Coex, Seoul, Republic of Korea
XV WORLD FORESTRY CONGRESS (wfc2021korea.org)
Designer: 김미화 | Kim Mi-Hwa
Release date: April 5, 2022
한국의 옛 건축(성당) | Old Architecture in Korea (cathedral)
8 stamps, sheet of 16 showing exteriors, sheet of 4 showing interiors, cancel, info sheet
Stamps in order:
- Yakhyeon Catholic Church in Seoul 천주교 서울 약현성당
- Jeondong Catholic Church Jeonju 천주교 전주 전동성당
- Anglican Church Ganghwa Cathedral 성공회 강화성당
- Yakhyeon Catholic Church in Seoul 천주교 서울 약현성당
- Anglican Catholic Church of Seoul 성공회 서울주교좌성당
- Jeondong Catholic Church Jeonju 천주교 전주 전동성당
- Anglican Church Ganghwa Cathedral 성공회 강화성당
- Seoul Anglican Cathedral 성공회 서울주교좌성당
Release date: April 14, 2022
해양보호생물(다섯 번째 묶음) | Marine Protected Life
5th in series
4 stamps, sheet of 16, cancel
- white footed crab
- red footed crab
- dalanger (Not sure 달랑게 translated correctly)
- sea crab
Designer: 박은경 | Park Eun-Kyung
Previous designs from 2021 Korean Ships, Korean Dogs, and commemorative cancel Guamegi.
Release date: April 20, 2022
목포 해상케이블카 | Mokpo Maritime Cable Car
commemorative cancel
목포해상케이블카 (mmcablecar.com) (In Korean, use Google Translate)
At 3.23 km, the Mokpo cable car is the longest in Korea.
Designer: 김미화 | Kim Mi-Hwa
Release date: April 22, 2022
May
100th Anniversary Children’s Day – Children Growing Up in Warm Love
1 stamp, sheets of 16, cancel
Designer: Jung Eun-young | 정은영
Release date: May 4, 2022
50th Anniversary of International People to People Korea Headquarters
1 pre-stamped postcard
Designer: Mihwa Kim 김미화
Release date: May 9, 2022
Inauguration of the 20th President
1 stamp, souvenir sheet, cancel, sheets of 15
Yoon Seok-yeol took office May 10, 2022
Designer: Shinjae-yong | 신재용
Release date: May 10, 2022
June
Endangered Animals Returning to Nature
2 stamps, 2 FDCs, 2 maxi cards, cancel, sheet of 16, info sheet
The ‘picking’, belonging to the stork-necked stirring family, has a gray head and neck, back and chest area from March to June during the breeding season, and from October onwards, the entire body changes to a pale tangerine color, which from a distance looks like white. Unseen for more than 40 years after being observed in the Demilitarized Zone in 1979, the Taogi flew back through the mountains and fields thanks to the efforts of the Upotaogi Restoration Center of Changning County. In March 2020, a spontaneously radiated male picking was also seen living in the previous year, 190 km away in a straight line, East Sea until Young.
‘Foxes’ were distributed throughout the Korean Peninsula until the 1960s, but the population plummeted due to secondary damage and habitat damage caused by the rat-catching movement. It has been believed to have been extinct in the country since the 1980s, but the discovery of fox carcasses in Yanggu, Gangwon Province, in 2004 raised the possibility of survival. From 2012 to the present, restoration projects have been carried out around Sobaeksan National Park, and there are currently more than 90 foxes living in the Fox Ecological Observation Center in Yeongju Province, Gyeongbuk Province, who have adaptation machines before going out into the wild.
Designer: Mihwa Kim 김미화
Release date: June 3, 2022
Blood Donations
1 stamp, maxi card, cancel, sheet of 12, info sheet
Designer: Jung Eun-young 정은영 유지형
Release date: June 14, 2022
Celestial Fields 천상열차분야지도 – the June Sky
7 stamps on souvenir sheet, 7 FDCs cancel, info sheet
Astronomical Map of Joseon
South Korea post has free wallpaper featuring this set. Get it here Korea Stamp Portal K-stamp: Naver Blog It’s available in both desktop and smartphone format
Designer: Jung Eun-young 정은영
Release date: June 24, 2022
July
Modern Sculpture
2 stamps, 2 maxi cards, 2 FDCs, cancel, sheet of 16
Kim Jung-Sook 김정숙 and Jong-Young Kim 김종영 (1915–1982)
Welcome to the Kim Jung-sook Sculptor homepage. (kimchungsook.com)
The pioneer of Korean abstract sculpture, Woo Sung Kim Jong-young (1915-1982), is widely regarded as a sculptor and a “writer of the Buddha Angle.” It was to reveal the essence of physical properties with minimal expression that excluded humanity. “Kim Jong-young, the author of the Buddhist Awakening, the world of unnatural nature that he revealed” – The Herald Economics (heraldcorp.com) (Use Google translate)
Designer: Shinjae-yong 신재용
Release date: July 7, 2022
Gregor Mendel’s 200th Birthday
1 stamp, FDC, maxi card, cancel, sheet of 15, info sheet
Korea Post’s write up on Mendel is excellent. You can read the entire entry here 200th Anniversary of Gregor Mendel’s Birth – Detailed Stamp View – Korean Stamps – Korea Stamp Portal Service K-stamp (epost.go.kr). It’s in Korean and translates well.
Born in Heisendolf, Austria, in 1822 to a farmer father and a horticultural mother, Mendel nurtured the dream of a botanist in the midst of difficult circumstances. Mendel, who entered the Monastery School of St. Augustine in 1843 on the recommendation of his gifted teacher Franz, studied a variety of disciplines, including theology. Even after his appointment as a formal priest in 1847, Mendel continued his passion for study and studied physics, mathematics and plant physiology at the University of Vienna, Austria.
At the time, scholars thought it was normal for all children born between tall fathers and small mothers to be about halfway in height, but in reality, this law did not fit well. To uncover this, Mendel planted peas of varying size, color, and shape, creating more than 10,300 hybrids over the course of 8 years, and published a paper titled “A Study on Plant Hybrids.” However, Mendel’s thesis, which is not a scholar who has formally entered academia, has been thoroughly ignored. Mendel, however, reversed the old “mixed fusion theory” by proposing the so-called “law of dominance” (the law of dominance) that if you plant a yellow pea that is a dominant purebred and a recessive green pea, you can only get a yellow pea. In addition, when hybrid peas were bred, the genes in each pea were isolated and inherited (the law of separation), and as a result, not only the dominant yellow peas but also the recessive green peas appeared among the offspring. We also found the “law of independence” that when two or more traits are inherited at once, each gene is isolated and inherited independently, regardless of the other.
You can read the rest 200th Anniversary of Gregor Mendel’s Birth – Detailed Stamp View – Korean Stamps – Korea Stamp Portal Service K-stamp (epost.go.kr)
Designer: Shinjae-yong 신재용
Release date: July 20, 2022
August
Foreigners Committed to Korean Independence
2 stamps, 2 maxi cards, 2 FDCs, cancel, sheet of 16
- Homer Bezalel Hulbert Homer Hulbert – Wikipedia
- Ernest Thomas Bethel – Bae Seol (배설, 裵說) Ernest Bethell – Wikipedia
Designer: 유지형
Release date: August 12, 2022
Chwitadae 취타대 – Traditional Korean Marching Band
3 stamps, sheet of 15, cancel
Designer: Eun-Kyung Park | 박은경
Release date: August 28, 2022
September
Folk play
2 stamps, sheet of 16, cancel
bow shooting & Tuho a traditional Korean game.
Designer: unlisted
Release date: September 15, 2022
Stamp Hobby Week
2 stamps, sheet of 16, cancel
Philately week celebrates street food!
A number of cancels will be issued or this date. I’ll be posting them later in August.
Designer: Eun-Kyung Park | 박은경
Release date: September 22, 2022
October
100th Anniversary of the Opening of Namsan Public Library
1 stamp, sheets of 16, cancel
Namsan Library, Seoul Special Municipal Education Agency (sen.go.kr)
Release date: October 5, 2022
Korean Original Musicals
4 stamps, souvenir sheet, cancel
Korea Post issued a very good press release on these 4 musicals:
Empress Myeongseong
First staged in 1995, “Empress Myeongmyeong” depicts Empress Myeongseong’s efforts to contain Japanese rule during the rehabilitation policy and the story of “Empress Myeongseong’s Murder Incident” on October 8, 1895. Empress Myeongseong was so beloved that it became the first Korean musical to release Standing Seat, and in 1997 it became the first Asian musical to make its way to Broadway in the United States. In 2007, it became the first musical to surpass 1 million viewers, performing more than 1,300 times and achieving a cumulative audience of 1.9 million.
Nanta
Korea’s first nonverbal (non-verbal) performance, “Nanta,” is a work that is pounded like the “Nantajeon” in a boxing match, performing only rhythm and beats without dialogue. Set in a large kitchen, four chefs are banging on various kitchen utensils to cook for the reception. With a 318-city tour in 58 countries around the world, with a cumulative audience of more than 14 million, “Nanta” has established itself as Korea’s representative cultural product.
Myeongdong Nanta :: THE NANTA The play opened in 1997 and, after a hiatus due to Covid, is still currently running in Seoul.
Werther
Based on Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther and premiering in 2000, “Werther” depicts the unattainable love between a young Werther, and her fiancé, Lotte. Living up to the fame of the original, the musical was also a huge hit, and in 2020 it celebrated its 20th anniversary and exceeded 300,000 cumulative viewers. Werther is particularly well known for his domestically created musicals, where the so-called “revolving door audience” was first created, with repeated performances.
Laundry
“Laundry”, which has been performed steadily since its premiere in 2005, has not only expanded overseas, but has also been recognized by the public and critics to the extent that it has been published in middle and high school literature textbooks in Korea. Centering on Seo Na-young, who moved to Seoul from her hometown, and Solongo, a migrant worker who came to Korea from Mongolia, he portrayed the lives of small citizens on the outskirts of Seoul. “Laundry” also entered Japan and China, where it received a good response, and in 17 years, it has been performed 5,000 times and has accumulated more than 1 million viewers, becoming Korea’s representative original musical.
Designer: Eun-Kyung Park | 박은경
Release date: October 14, 2022
Korean Comedy
2 stamps, cancel
Koo Bong-seo (1926~2016)
Nam Bo-won (1936~2020)
Designer: Mihwa Kim
Release date: October 25, 2022
November
Woodwind Instruments
General stamp
1 stamp, cancel, sheets of 30
Designer: Mihwa Kim
Release date: November 11, 2022
Cheonmachong Gwanmo
General stamp
1 stamp, cancel, sheets of 30
Coffin from the Three Kingdoms period (Silla) , Cheonmachong in Gyeongju, North Gyeongju, North Korea
Designer: Eun-Kyung Park | 박은경
Release date: November 11, 2022
Vegetable Blossoms
2 stamps, sheets of 12, cancel
Burdock (Arctium lappa) and Mustard (Brassica juncea)
Designer: Eunyoung Jung
Release date: November 11, 2022
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Ministry) – Cheoyongmu
2 stamps, sheet of 8, cancel, info sheet
Cheoyongmu is a traditional Korean dance, performed during the New Year
Cheoyongmu is a court dance today performed on stage but formerly used to dispel evil spirits and pray for tranquillity at royal banquets or during exorcism rites on New Year’s Eve to promote good fortune. Based on the Korean legend of Cheoyong, a son of the dragon king Yongwang, who took human form and saved his human wife from the smallpox spirit through singing and dancing, the dance is performed by five men clad in white, blue, black, red and yellow to represent the four cardinal directions and the centre.
Cheoyongmu – intangible heritage – Culture Sector – UNESCO
Designer: Mihwa Kim 김미화
Release date: November 18, 2022
December
Lunar New Year – Year of the Rabbit
2 stamps, 1 souvenir sheet, 1 sheet
Flatbed / 4 degrees / red foil / hologram foil
Rabbit in the Snow
Designer: Shin Jae-yong 신재용
Release date: December 1, 2022
Successful Launch of Nuri
1 stamp, sheets of 16, cancel
The successful launch of the Nuri… World’s 7th self-powered satellite launch station – Chosun Ilbo
Designer: Shin Jae-yong 신재용
Release date: December 16, 2022
200th Anniversary of Louis Pasteur’s Birth
1 stamp, sheets of 15, cancel
Designer: Mihwa Kim 김미화
Release date: December 27, 2022
Check out last year’s stamps -> South Korean stamps for 2021 thematic heaven
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