Detail

`The Ministry of Communications has renewed designs of definitive postage stamps periodically for the betterment of philatelic culture, under the definitive postage stamp improvement plan. This time it issues a 90-won stamp featuring``Sojjok-sae`` (scops owlOtus scops), Natural Monument No.324. This bird, the smallest of the owl family, is active from dusk through dawn. Its body has complex patterns with brown, black and grey colors on the greyish brown ground and its eyes are yellow. ``Sojjok-sae`` is likely to be heard to sing ``Sojjok, Sojjok`` or ``Sojjok-da, Sojjok-da``, whose meaningis ``The kettle is small.`` Accordingto a legend, if the bird sings ``Sojjok-da, Sojjok-da``, it signals a bumper harvest, and if it sings ``Sojjok, Sjjok``, then it heralds a bad year. Scops owls live on insects and are widely distributed in the temperate and tropical regions, including Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and Africa. The Ministry of Communications issues this stamp, hoping that people will actively participate in the natural conservation movement with continued interests in birds living in Korea.`