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`We are now ushering out a year eventful both at home and abroad, and are full of hope looking to a new tear, the year 1982. According to the traditional counting of years, the new year is the Year of the Dog. The old Oriental zodiac containing chun-gan, the ten celestial stems, and chi-chi, the twelve terrestrial branches, provides a 60-year cycle, which has traditionally been the basis of counting and naming years in the Orient. The twelve branches represent twelve different animals-mouse, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog and pig. Legend has it that this sequence of animals was decided according to the order in which they came to their god to pay their New Year respects. About this time of year we are all busy having things finished, reflecting on the receding year in order to learn from experience, and planning to make the forthcoming year a better and more fruiful one. But this is also a time for us to stop and think about our relatives and friends and show our love for them by inquiring after their well-being and wishing them a happy New Year by letter, if not by visiting them in person. The Ministry of Communications issues two stamps of New Year`s Greetings in order to add to the happiness with which people send and receive these greetings. The two stamp designs, ``Camellia and Dog`` and ``Children Flying Kites``, by Kwon Myung-kwang, professor of art at Hong-ik University, have been chosen for the New Year stamps. The former, which symbolizes the new Year of the Dog, is the ``Fighting Dog`` painted by an unknown 18th century artist of the Yi Dynasty that has been recreated to fit the modern sense of art, and the latter depicts an age-old winter scene of Korea ubiquitous in the countryside, especially during the New Year holiday.`