Tag: North Korea Stamp

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North Korea 1966, hoping to export to prosperity

The North Korea of 1966 had not yet fallen behind it’s Southern cousins economically. North Korea has important natural resources in coal, tungsten, zinc, and even gold. That was just what Japan found during the colonial rule. Now it is all in the countries hands, so perhaps the resources will spread to the people. That could have happened. 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.

This is a great issue of strong, determined workers in the areas of construction, mining, industry, and machine tool production. They show vast facilities and scientific methods. These are the kind of stamps newer communist countries do so well. Early on there really is a belief that such things being in the hands of the state instead of capitalist and often even foreign exploiters will move the country forward by great leaps. I admit, the optimism is contagious.

Todays stamp is issue A615, a 40 Chon stamp issued by North Korea on November 20th, 1966. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations with todays mining stamp the highest value reflecting the industries’ importance to Korea. Unlike the other stamps in the issue, the stamp came out with no gum on the back. There is still a value given for used, so I assume they are cancelled to order. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.10 cents unused.

Most of the mining going on in North Korea in 1966 was done in mines left over from the Japanese. For example, Korea’s most important mineral zinc comes from the largest mine in eastern Asia at Geomdeock. It was founded by the Japanese in 1932. The complex was quickly nationalized by the North Korean regime but as never progressed beyond the old method of flooding and collecting the zinc as it floats up.

In coal output the Gogeonwon mine produces the highest form of coal anthracite, mainly for export and North Korea is the largest exporter of anthracite. with over a billion dollars a year of exports. It too was founded by Japan in 1920 and subsequently nationalized. Coal for electricity comes from a newer mine opened in 1997 in Jikdong. It however produces lower quality lignite or brown coal that has a much lower energy content. North Korea is very short of electricity despite large reserves of coal and a large workforce that must work where assigned even a tired old mine.

Gold is one area where North Korea has been able to make some headway. A new mine in Songnong opened in 1956. The mine extracts tailings that contain 30 grams of gold per ton of extraction. There is a connected processing plant that has over time processed over 20 million tons of tailings. The now giant pile of waste rock was tested and still contains 1.5 grams of gold per ton.

South Korea did a survey that agreed with this stamp as to the potential for mining in North Korea putting the potential at 9.7 trillion dollars. This attracted a lot of investment from China in the sector. The investments have not proved lucrative due to the shortage of electricity that modern mines require in great quantities and capitalist sanctions on Korea that threaten to blacklist firms that get too involved.

Well my drink is empty and my search continues for one of these optimistic communist industry stamps where the results were as hoped and continue on. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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North Korea 1978, Before Sanctions, we could admit to, and even Celebrate our Ships

North Korea has always had the ambition to be an exporting nation. To help bring that about, a fleet of maritime cargo vessels was acquired, often from abroad. Now with sanctions on North Korea, as a result of the country’s nuclear program, there can no long be stamps showing off assets, lest they be seized. 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.

North Korea did later have a new stamp issue of Korean ships in 2013. The lead stamp was a ship that did dinner cruises.

Todays stamp is issue A952, a 5 Chon stamp issued by North Korea on May 5th, 1978. It was a five stamp issue showing various cargo ships, freighters, and tankers belonging to North Korea. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The ship on this stamp is the Hyok Sin. It was built in Japan at Mukaishima Shipyard in 1971. The name is a Korean male name but the only prominent Korean with that name I could find was a soccer star born 21 years after the ship was built. The ship served  for 33 years before it was broken up in China in 2004. The Hyok Sin 2 still exists but is not of the same design.

An earlier time when the Hyok Sin was free to roam. It is here seen in Rotterdam in 1980.

The North Korean merchant fleet is managed by a government owned company called Ocean Maritime Management. In 2001 North Korea was named part of the axis of evil by the United States. By 2013 sanctions became universal and United Nations enforced. The sanctions apply directly to Ocean Maritime Management and even the administrators of the company are subject to having their bank accounts seized.

To try to get around the sanctions, North Korean ships now have often changing names. Also shell companies based out of Hong Kong are given theoretical title to the ships. The North Koreans have a sense of humor about it. Among the names chosen for the shell companies are “Trendy Sunshine Limited” and “Advance Superstar”.

It now being almost impossible to acquire new ships from the outside and the fleet aging and indeed shrinking due to ships being seized, North Korea has begun to try to build their own ships. The former ship repair facility at Ryoungnam is now a full shipyard although the output is quite small. The third vessel, the Jang Su San was launched late last year. It was not registered with the International Maritime Organization.

The new to the water Jang Su Sin.

Well my drink is empty. I wonder if Russia is about to receive the same treatment as North Korea. By the time the cancelers are done, perhaps every nation will have been given the same treatment. Come again next Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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North Korea 1991, Our Communist Royal House will survive because we have Juche

North Korea’s regime survived the fall of communism. Perhaps because they modified Marxism to become self reliant and therefore less influenced by life outside. 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.

Todays stamp is big, well printed and aimed at the international collector. Sure Giant Pandas are more to do with China than North Korea, but they are cute. Note also that the date on the stamp uses the Gregorian calendar rather than the Juche calendar used in North Korea. This easy source of foreign exchange for the Eastern Bloc did much to help specialized stamp collectors.

Todays stamp is issue A1379, a 50 Chon stamp issued by the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea(North) on January 10th, 1991.It was part of a 6 stamp souvenir sheet displaying giant pandas. According to the Scott Catalog, the souvenir sheet is worth $1.75 cancelled to order. I only possess one stamp of the six on the sheet so that puts its value at 30 cents.

The Korean peninsula was divided between North and South in 1953 at the conclusion of the hostilities of the Korean war. There was still a technical state of war with the south and a large compliment of American military there. North Korea was thus required to stay on a war footing  and invest the bulk of the recourses on it’s military. It was still the case that much development occurred in the North with the help of substantial Soviet and Chinese aid. Agricultural reform went more smoothly in the North than in China or the Soviet Union. Through the late seventies, the North at least matched the South in output although with much less emphasis on consumer goods.

Kim Il-sung realized that the North could not rely indefinitely on aid and needed to become self sufficient. He developed a political ideology that built on Marxism but more emphasized the individual in achieving self reliance. The system was called Juche and was credited to Kim Il-sung and exported to open minds throughout the third world. The idea of not having to be reliant on foreigners had much appeal to newly independent former colonies. Achieving the ideal was not however in those countries reach

The development that went on was much in the old Soviet model with things like steel mills and mining at the forefront of the planned industrialization. There was a drive to boost exports by bringing in capitalist technology but this required debt and the monies realized in the market were below what was hoped. When the plan did not work out the debt was quickly defaulted on.

One aspect unique in the communist world was the personal aggrandizement of Kim Il-sung. This allowed him to introduce his son into politics as his heir so that the family could act as a royal house with hereditary succession. The country even introduced a Juche calendar timing dates based on the number of years since Kim Il-sung’s birth. It is definitely a cult of personality but does not extend to North Korea’s leaders having any Godlike powers as is suggested in some African countries.

Kim Il-sung died in 1994 having escaped the tumult that befell other communist countries in the 90s. That in itself does bolster his ideas of self reliance. His son and now his grandson have remained in power and although economic development has not kept pace with the South in recent years there must be some respect for the ability of the North to go it alone.

The giant panda is only native to China. At the current time there is no zoo in North Korea in the program to lease pandas for 10 year periods as exist in many parts of the world. The lease program has been successful in raising money and awareness of the need to preserve and increase numbers of the endangered pandas.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. The country of North Korea shows for bad and good what a country is like when it takes complete control of itself. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.