Detail

`The Ministry of Communications is issuing a postage stamp, along the border of which a color frame is printed, for the mechanization of mail service work. Along the border of this stamp a green frame, 1㎜ in width, is printed, with the same design of the Manchurian Crane, Grus japonensis, as the definitive postage stamp issued on October 10, 1973, and has been in populer use ever since, simply changing the base color fo blue into light green. The Manchurian Crane, which once in the past was widely distributed throughout Northeast Asia, including such areas as China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Siberia, Japan and Korea, is now found only in the neighborhood of Lake Khanka of Siberia and in the swampland of Kushiro and Nemuro in Hokkaido, Japan. It winters in the northeastern region of China, Japan and Korea. It is about 1,360㎜ long, and is white as a whole, with black lores, thoat and neck, and black secondaries which droop beyond the tail when on the ground, and form a prominent black trailing edge to the inner wing in flight. The red forehead is visible only at a very close range. Resident in open rice­fields, marshes and estuaries, it is an uncommon winter visitor and a passage migrant. Four areas in Korea, including Yeonhi-dong in Inchon City and the vicinity of the Freedom Village and Panmunjeom near the Demilitarized Zone, have become the wintering grounds for the Machurian Crane migrating to Korea. The wintering population of the Manchurian Crane is estimated to be 120­150. Having been designated as Natural Monument No.202, the bird is under special protection.`