Detail

Over the past 50 years, winter temperatures on the arctic surface rose by 10∼15℃. During the past 40 years, the thickness of ice as the center of the Arctic Ocean decreased by more than 30%. The total span of arctic ice has been shrinking by 4% every 10 years. Right at this very moment, arctic’s glaciers are melting. The Antarctic continent accounts for 9.2% of the earth’s land surface and is covered with polar icecaps. The arctic, an ocean that lies between the North American and Eurasian continents, takes up about 3% of the world’s oceans and is mostly covered in thick ice. The polar regions are covered with snow and ice that efficiently reflect solar heat. If the snow and ice should melt due to global warming, the amount of solar heat absorbed by the earth surface would sharply escalate. Especially, rising temperatures in the arctic tundra region would trigger massive emission of buried methane into the air. This would aggravate the green house effect, which would in turn, exacerbate global warming, continuing a vicious cycle. If all the ice in the polar regions were to melt, the sea level would rise by about 60m. Shocking images of polar bears crouching on drifting ice pieces too small for them to even stand on is a sign of the dire reality facing the world. A special stamp is being issued, as Korea Post joins the collaborative efforts initiated by its counterparts around the world to remind humanity of the severity of the situation in the polar regions and of the importance of preserving the polar regions and glaciers. Featured in the stamp are works that were awarded the grand prize and award of excellence in the 16th International Postage Stamp Design Contest -- “the polar bear in crisis” by Juyeop HAN (Korea) and “the penguins who have lost their home” by Lei Sai Kun (Macao, China).