Korea Stamp

The country of South Korea issued a series of souvenir stamps to honor the gold medal winners of the 1960 Olympics. These special souvenirs connoted strong national sentiments. Members of the Korean Philatelic Society, an organization devoted to helping souvenir collectors, have evaluated the various releases and permutations of the Korean 1960 Olympics stamp sets.According to the Society, there are basically five Korea stamp eras. The first era stretched from 1884 to 1905. The stamps from this period reflect a deep respect for the Korean empire. Over the next 40 years, Japanese culture and social institutions heavily influenced Korean stamps. From 1945 to 1948, while Korea was riven by war, the U.S. military actually issued government stamps to help Korean citizens carry on day-to-day business.In 1948, Korea was split asunder. South Korea, otherwise known as the Republic of Korea, continued to issue stamps on a regular basis. North Korea, which goes by the moniker Democratic People's Republic of Korea, issued stamps sporadically. The North Korean stamps often glorified the ruling Kim Dynasty. The stamps from the early Kim era are hard to find in good condition.The Korean postal services were deeply influenced by the Western postal bureaucracies. In 1884, the country organized the Korean Postal Bureau and modeled this institution after other successful postal services in Europe. As a result of careful cataloging, most Korean stamps that have been released since 1884 (with the exception of DPRK stamps) have been well documented.