Is There Still A Ban On North Korean Stamps?

With recent North Korean activities, I'm wondering if there is still a ban on Americans owning stamps from that country??
Thanks!
Gussyboy1

I have no idea about it, but think it is weird. There are / have been so many countries ruled by terrible dictators, yet only a few are singled out, like Cuba and North Korea.
Why not ban countries like Burma, Belarus, Sudan or Zimbabwe as well?

No country should be ban. Freedom of speech.
Is suppost to be what we are about!

I don't think they are banned, but DPROK stamps might be a good investment. Especially if they get bombed off the face of the earth by the ROK or Japanese (or Chinese) military!

I say collect what you want a stamp is a stamp. Unless your stamp dealer is an informant to the government or you are in witness protection. LOL

Good idea, LaSwabbie! Never quite thought of it that way,
but good idea.
Thanks!
Gussyboy1

President Bush ended the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act in regards to North Korea last year. A different set of sanctions were then put into place. But even before that, many changes were made.

Without going through the history timeline, basically today the only items that are fully restricted are items that may affect national security (catch-all phrase), certain financial transactions... To import North Korean stamps (from any source), you technically would be required to receive an OK from the Treasury Department. Unless they discover that the gum on North Korean CTOs are laced with toxins, it technically would receive approval (eventually).

Basically the same situation exists with Cuban stamps. Because of the changes in policies in the past decade, Scott now lists recent Cuban and North Korean stamps in the catalogs, after a couple of decades of not listing stamps issued AFTER the embargo was put into place.

However, my understanding is that it is still ILLEGAL to import these stamps into the US by mail, but don't hold me to that. I read that, but was never able to locate a US Treasury communication to that effect.

If you really want a shocker, you should check out some of the prices for the North Vietnamese stamps in a recent Scott catalog. These stamps used to be in old dealer packets as filler material! Who would have thought!

Hi Gussy......

Apparently there are no sanctions against them.....look here....

http://stamps.shop.ebay.com/items/A...sopZ1QQ_scZ1

On a slightly different tack..i was looking at a stockpage of I guess you would call North Vietnam they are from the 1960s..and I am surprised that the scott catalog values for them are quite high...for some reason Korean stamps are not my cup of tea..kind of like Bulgaria or Romania..just not drawn to them....

The rules set up by the US Treasury and State Department only apply to the United States and import into the US. North Korean and Cuban stamps during the original sanction period have been on the market and openly traded in non-US countries for decades, before the US relaxed its sanction coverage.

Even if it was illegal, I would hope that Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA would have much more important things to be investigating.

Saw this offer from MYSTIC stamps.....sounds a bit high to me but then I haven't looked in the books yet to see what they run.


Thanks!
Gussyboy1

It always makes me suspicious when they say something like "Strict limit of five coins/lots/pigs/stamps/whatevers per order."

I've looked at that ad in Mystic. And as wise owl Laswabbie says, anything that says something like that makes me suspicous. Its like they are trying too hard, you know?