Detail

A 3,550 won definitive postage stamp will be issued on October 28, 2014.The 3,550 won stamp will be used for registered mail,including the pieces sent by the courts to litigants. The high-denomination stamp is expected to make life easier for court clerks and other stamp users who for years had to use multiple stamps for such purposes.The 3,550 won stamp features the “National Seal of the Korean Empire, Hwangjejibo.” The Hwangjejibo (“Emperor’s Seal”) is a national seal. It was made for the proclamation of the Korean Empire in 1897 by Emperor Gojong (1852 to 1919). Each side of the jade seal is approximately 9.6 centimeters long, and the seal was used by the Emperor on state documents, including the certificates of appointment that the Emperor himself conferred on newly appointed government officials. Until the Gabo Reforms, the previous kings of Joseon used seals conferred upon them by the Chinese emperors.Emperor Gojong, however, attempted to proclaim the independence and dignity of the Korean Empire by boldly abandoning all state seals previously used and by producing a national seal in the shape of a dragon with an orb in its mouth. Hwangjejibo, a manifestation of Emperor Gojong’s determination to proclaim the Korean Empire’s independence, was unfortunately smuggled to the U.S. from Deoksugung Palace during the Korean War. After many years of effort to bring home the national seal, Hwangjejibo was finally returned on April 25, 2014, six decades after it was taken away, through a U.S. Presidential visit to Korea. With the return of Hwangjejibo, there are now five national seals in Korea out of 11 that were originally produced and used. Their whereabouts of the remaining six are unknown.In order to prevent forgery and counterfeiting, the new definitive stamp features optically variable ink, minute letter, and special perforations.