Tag: South Korea stamp

Korea had been occupied by Japan for 40 years when they were defeated. So who could run Korea? The last Emperor was poisoned in 1920. Well luckily a pro western “provisional government” had been set up in China and received much funding to play lets pretend. After the USA occupied Southern Korea back comes no longer Provisional but appointed President Syngman Rhee, a man who had only been away a few decades. If you smell a fish, for gosh sake don’t join the Bobo league. 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.

The printing on this stamp might lead you to believe this stamp was North Korean instead of South Korea. The fact was in the 1950s there was not much difference between the two in terms of economic development. This stamp might imply South Korea liked their tigers, but perhaps not enough. In 1900 you could have found Siberian tigers in Korea. By 1990, both Koreas had lost them though Siberian tigers still exist across the North’s border with Russia.

Todays stamp is issue A121, a 30 Hwan stamp issued by South Korea in 1957. This was from the final redrawing of an issue that had been around since 1953 but had to reflect the hyper inflation of the period. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Japan began formally administering Korea in 1905. The Emperor was forced to abandon his Throne in 1910. He was poisoned in 1920. After which there was a large uprising against the Japanese. The Japanese brutally put down the uprising and sent the leaders that survived into exile in China, Some of those folks gathered in Shanghai under Syngman Rhee and began putting forth that the rebellion was not inspired by the murder of the Emperor but instead that they were inspired by a speech given in English  by former USA President Wilson laying out points of peoples movement toward independence and democracy. Syngman Rhee had been a Christian Missionary and worked with the YMCA. Obviously the fish is begining to smell but the USA and the KMT in China began supporting this Korean “Provisional Government”.

During World War II it was decided that Korea was one of the occupied nations needing liberation from the Axis, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/09/usa-1943-korea-is-listed-as-a-country-to-be-liberated/  . Syngman Rhee, remember this is nearly a quarter century after the rebellion of 1920 came out of a retirement in Hawaii to go to Washington to be a part of liberation. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, Americans landed unopposed at Inchon and the Russians crossed into the North. The division was only to be tempoary although the Soviet Army left after a communist regime was set up in the North. The American occupation of the south continued and Syngman Rhee was made President in 1948. He was 73. The north refused Korea wide elections and the UN endorsed Rhee’s regime as the legitimate government of all Korea.

Rhee was an outsider to Korea so not all were ready to support him. Much of the development had been owned by Japanese and while such things were quickly nationalized in the North, in the South there was less change. Rhee began to label all opposition to him as communist spys from the North. Several hundred thousand suspected trouble makers were rounded up and sent to a series of reeducation camps known as the Bobo League. When the North invaded the South in 1950 prisoners at the camps were liquidated before South Koreans withdrew south.

After the end of the war the camps did not reopen but resistance still grew. The constitution was reinterpreted to allow Rhee to seek reelection. His last reelection effort in 1960 at age 85 was helped immensely by his opponent having died before election day. Protest got large and the USA sent a plane to get Rhee safely out of the country. On the flight out,  Rhee’s Austrian wife went to the cockpit and gave the American pilot a large diamond. Rhee’s first wife had been Korean but remember  he had spent so many years abroad and his second wife had been an interpreter at the League of Nations. Rhee had spent much time there with his hand out, excuse me, making his case for the Korean people. Rhee died in 1965 and afterward his body was returned to Korea. After Rhee’s death his wife Franziska moved to Austria for a few years but from 1970 was able to return to Korea and live in the old family home with her adopted son and his family.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering how these folks come of out of nowhere to fill the void in an ex colony. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

South Korea in terms of the cold war in 1975 was on the same side as Japan, which now had only defensive military capabilities and whose only threat was economic. That does not mean there was not still resentment of the Japanese occupation up till 1945 so why not fondly remember a long ago Admiral who knew how to make Japan pay a price for attacking Korea. 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 sure doesn’t look like much. This was a bulk postage stamp for mainly commercial use. That in itself though was a sign of an advanced economy, and South Korea was then in it’s first decade of being described that way.

Todays stamp is issue A502 a 100 Won stamp issued by South Korea on October 10th, 1975. This stamp features 16th century Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the spelling seems to have changed in English since the seventies when his name was presented as Li. It was a four stamp bulk issue in various denominations whose subject matter did not relate to each other.

In the 1590s Japan under Toyotomi Hideyoshi had a ambition to conquer Korea, then united, and use it as a springboard to attack Ming Dynasty era China. The 1590s sound a lot like the 1890s. Korea was ruled by the Joseon Dynasty. The Japanese army and navy had a great numerical advantage over Korea and the invasion occurred in 1592. The Korean Army did not fare well in battle and the Koreans fell back to guerilla warfare against the Japanese who were able to take Seoul and Pyonyang.

One advantage the Koreans had was a small but well lead navy under Admiral Yi. The Korean ships were larger and carried more and better cannon. The Japanese had smaller ships that would pull alongside and attempt to board them. Admiral Yi  had constructed a new type of ship called a turtle ship that had spikes on the top deck to make it difficult to board. It also had separate decks so the rowers could continue to row below and the gun deck with other sailors could fire. Korea was having a great deal of luck ambushing supply ships and The Japanese were having no luck using there overwhelming numbers to catch the Korean fleet in one place.

A ground force General wanted Admiral Yi to coordinate with a land attack on shore. The order came through the King. Admiral Yi refused, citing off shore rocks that would be dangerous for his precious ships. Admiral Yi was then stripped or his command, imprisoned and tortured near to death. He then became, a man of noble birth, a private in the army. The navy without Li was far less successful suffering its first defeats. Admiral Yi then had his command restored but the navy was down to 13 ships and 300 sailors. The King wrote him a letter suggesting he disband the navy and have his sailors join the army. Yi wrote back that he had 13 ships and while he was still alive the Japanese would not be safe in the Yellow Sea. At the Battle of Myeongnyang, he was able to ambush the Japanese fleet an inflict great losses. At a later battle, Admiral Yi was hit by a fatal wound and his last words that someone should continue to beat his war drum and the sailors should not be told of his death.

China later intervened on the Korean side turning the tide of the war. The Japanese withdrew from Korea after their own leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi died. The Joseon Dynasty lasted until 1897 when the Japanese again became ambitious toward Korea.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the admirals that had to face one of those scary turtle ships. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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.