Evening of the 22nd Online Pre-Sale Begins
'Album Image' Stamps Sold Out in 3 Hours
Members' Portraits Only in 'Commemorative Booklet'
Korea Post Explains "Avoid Living Persons"
BTS debut 10th anniversary commemorative stamps have started to be sold. They have shown remarkable popularity, with some items selling out instantly during the online pre-sale. However, the BTS commemorative stamps do not show the faces of the BTS members at all. What exactly happened?
On the 23rd, the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Korea Post announced that some items in the BTS commemorative stamp pre-sale, which began at 7 p.m. the previous day through the Internet Post Office and mobile app, sold out within a few hours. The sheets, each consisting of 10 stamps, totaling 120,000 sheets, were sold out by around 10 p.m., just three hours after the sale started. As of 7 a.m. that day, 55,000 packets (stamps + commemorative booklet) had been sold. During the online pre-sale, there was a momentary delay of 20 to 30 minutes due to a surge in visitors, but the service soon normalized. Korea Post took measures such as traffic distribution and limiting simultaneous connections to prevent overload.
What is unusual is that despite being BTS’s 10th debut anniversary commemorative stamps, the members’ faces are not included. Korea Post explained that only album images were used on the stamps. The stamps consist of 10 types featuring album images from '2 COOL 4 SKOOL', 'Skool Luv Affair', 'Hwayangyeonhwa pt.1', 'WINGS', 'YOU NEVER WALK ALONE', 'LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear'', 'MAP OF THE SOUL : 7', 'Dynamite', 'Butter', and 'Proof'. Instead, photos of the BTS members were included in the commemorative booklet. This might be difficult for 'ARMY' fans and the general public to understand at first.
Korea Post explained that according to relevant legal regulations, living persons are generally not allowed to have their portraits on stamps. Commemorative stamps are issued under the 'Korea Stamp Regulations' according to Korea Post’s internal directives. Article 2 of these regulations states that commemorative stamps are issued based on subjects that have nationally significant meaning or can cultivate public sentiment. Article 4, paragraph 3 limits the cases in which commemorative stamps can be issued to six categories. Among these, the BTS 10th debut anniversary commemorative stamps were issued under the clause that recognizes the need to promote individuals who have made significant contributions to national prestige and international peace to the public.
The issue lies in Article 4, paragraph 5. Except for special cases such as presidential inauguration commemorative stamps or national prestige promotion, commemorative stamps featuring living persons cannot be issued. BTS qualifies as a subject for commemorative stamps due to their contribution to national prestige. However, following the policy of not issuing or not including photos of living persons whenever possible, the stamps were produced using only album images. A Korea Post official explained, "In the past, commemorative stamps featuring living persons were issued for achievements such as winning Olympic gold medals, but this measure was taken considering cases where the subjects later caused social controversies."
Meanwhile, the online pre-sale for overseas fans will be held on the dedicated overseas customer website (www.koreastamp.or.kr) starting from the 1st of next month. From the 13th of next month, remaining commemorative stamps and packets can be purchased at post offices nationwide.
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