Media focuses on North Korea’s anti-American stamps; Fox quotes Scott editor Frankevicz

By Linn’s Staff

North Korea’s latest anti-American stamps received wide media attention, with news outlets from CNN to Fox News reporting on them.

In a pamphlet announcing the new stamps, the Korea Stamp Corporation said that they “were issued on the occasion of the period of anti-US joint struggle (June 25-July 27).”

This refers to the Korean War, which began June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea, and ended with the July 27, 1953, armistice.

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The pamphlet also described the stamp designs as reflecting “the White House, a den of evil, which is in the range of sophisticated striking means of the powerful revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu and the Stars and Stripes which has been smashed and torn off by the mighty force of Songun Korea.”

The denominations of these commemoratives are 30 won and 50w.

Some of the news reports mentioned that North Korea has a long history of anti-American sentiment on its stamps, specifically citing the 1969 10-chon stamp showing President Richard Nixon being attacked by pens (Scott 909). That stamp commemorated the anti-U.S. Imperialism Journalists’ Conference in Pyongyang.

Kristine Kotta’s report for Fox News quotes Scott English, the American Philatelic Society’s executive director, and Martin Frankevicz, the new-issues editor for the Scott catalogs.

Frankevicz said: “Stamps from North Korea are not easily accessible because they are embargoed, much like Cuba and Iran. And quite frankly, these are not particularly different than the other anti-American ones they issue.”