How to judge a new countries leader. Freedom? Stability? Economic Performance? All of the above. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
A stamp with a countries flag on it seems at first pretty basic. There is often a USA bulk postage issue with the flag, the current postal rate, and not much else. That is essentially what this is. In its own way though it is a sign of progress. South Korea was only recently free of it’s Japanese colonial period and had suffered an invasion and devastating war that was only ended with a cease fire. The country was still on a war footing and troops deployed abroad in South Vietnam. Yet there was still enough economic activity to require a basic bulk stamp issue to serve people sending letters. It should be seen as the economic miracle it was.
Todays stamp is issue A324, a 10 Won stamp issued by South Korea in 1970. It was part of an 18 stamp issue in various denominations that were issued from 1969-1974. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The mint version is up at $1.60, showing that not many of this bulk issue were being preserved by collectors.
The Korean War ended in 1953 with the Korean peninsula divided between a Communist North and a Capitalist South. The South Koreans had tried democracy after the war but the result was much political instability. With the country still in a state of war and heavily armed, the armed forces had an unusual amount of power and they were nervous about the instability and feared the often protesting students would lead to a Communist overthrow of the government. Brigadier General Park felt this and when he found out he was to be retired he acted and lead a successful coup. He later formed a political party and his takeover was ratified by an election. He then embarked on an export driven economic growth plan that financed a great deal of industrialization by borrowing from the outside.
The economic growth was very quick and resembled what was going on in Japan with a few very large companies involved in many industries with cross ownership. Relations with Japan were normalized and aid and capital began to flow from that source. South Korea also ventured out more into the world with troop deployments in South Vietnam and construction companies heavily involved in building the petro-dollar states of the middle east. The sophistication of the country was seen in the nuclear power plants being constructed. The military also was technically adept enough to operate new West German submarines and then state of the art F4 Phantom American fighter bombers.
The economic performance was not enough to insure President Park’s popularity. To stay in office he had to resort to ever more repression of his political enemies. Eventually the military felt that he was going too far and President Park was assassinated by the head of the defence intelligence agency during a private banquet. He is still a controversial figure in Korea especially after his daughter was elected President in 2013, only to be impeached and sentenced to jail for influence paddling.
Well my drink is empty and I an debating whether to pour another to toast the memory of President Park. I think I will as I regard bringing up the living standards of a large group of people more important that cowtowing to leaders who are long on complaints and short on solutions or achievements. The toast should happen privately though and not at a banquet. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.