State Visit of the Emperor of Ethiopia (1968)

Today's featured stamp was issued in 1968 to commemorate the official state visit of Haile Selassie, the former leader of Ethiopia, to South Korea. Featured on the stamp are portraits of Haile Selassie and former South Korean President Park Chung Hee. I added the above stamp and souvenir sheet to my collection last summer and currently have a second MNH souvenir sheet available for anyone interested in a trade. I like the design of this stamp and give the color combination a thumbs up. As for the stamp specifics they are as follows:

• Date of Issue: 18 May 1968
• Scott Catalogue #: 601
• Korea Postage stamp Catalogue (KPC) #: C343
• Quantity Produced: 1,000,000 stamps; 100,000 souvenir sheets

The stamp description provided by the South Korean Ministry of Communication and listed on the Korea Stamp Society website is as follows:

His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie 1, Emperor of Ethiopia, will visit the Republic of Korea for three days at the invitation of His Excellency President Chung Hee Park, from 18 May 1968. H.I.M. Selassie`s historic state visit to Korea reaffirms the traditional bonds of friendship between the two countries, and it will serve to further cement mutual understanding and spirit of cooperation over various matters of mutual concern.

We Korean people will always be grateful to the Ethiopian people for their coming to our aid to help us defend freedom and justice during Korean war. The friendship shown by the noble sacrifice of their precious blood for the defense of freedom on this soil shall be long cherished in our heart. The state visit of H.I.M. Selassie will surely bring the two countries even closer together in our common efforts toward national development and prosperity. 

The Ministry of Communications issues a commemorative postage stamp to mark this historic occasion and it joins with the people in extending to H.I.M. their wholehearted welcome and praying that His Imperial Majesty`s stay in Korea will be a most comfortable and enjoyable one.

Haile Selassie

While I have always been interested in reading about the Korean War I am certainly not an expert on the subject and was thus surprised to learn that the Ethiopian military provided three 1,200 man Battalions to the UN Command starting in May/June of 1951. The Ethiopian units were designated as the 1st Kagnew Battalion, the 2nd Kagnew Battalion, and the 3rd Kagnew Battalion and they were integrated into the command of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War. This stamp was issued to commemorate and honor the "precious blood" spilled by the Ethiopian military for the defense of freedom and I've read that there were 122 KIA and 566 WIA from the Kagnew Battalions that fought during the war.

 

In January 2010, U.S. Army Africa published an interesting article about their visit with Kagnew veterans at the Korean War memorial in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To read the article click here. I found this bit of military history to be fascinating!

During my research of this stamp issue I did not turn up much information about Haile Selassie's visit to South Korea; however, I learned a tremendous amount about Ethiopia's military role during the Korean War. Fascinating stuff that I may not have ever discovered had I not stopped to learn more about this stamp and souvenir sheet. 

Until next time...