COVER N. 641 - SOUTH KOREA

Postmark: Seoul C.P.O. Korea  18.09.2025 

Posted on the 18th September; Received on the 9th October 2025

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Oh another of my beloved airmail envelopes... and as usual with them, neat and dandy..... 매우 감사합니다, 매우 감사합니다ng

Not much to say about this cover. The envelope is very nice, the stamps quite striking, the postmark  very clear and there is even a nice airmail label...all in all a great addition to the collection.

The two reptile stamps are part of  a 5 x 430 won, strip of se-tenant stamps issued on 09JUL2025, dedicated to Endangered Species on CITES Trade Ban List.

CITES is the acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, adopted in 1973 by the members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and in force since 1975.

The convention aims at eradicating the traffic of endangered Fauna and Flora species, so as to guarantee their sustainability and survival in  the wild.  

At present, some 40,900 species are protected under the CITES convention, each of them being classified under one of the three appendixes to the convention:

Appendix I - species threatened with extinction and to which the highest level of CITES protection is afforded.

Appendix II - species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but whose trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival;

Appendix III -  species that are protected in at least one country, and that country has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. 

The stamps feature  (left to right) a Rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura Cornuta), endemic to the Island of Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) currently classified by IUCN as Endangered and a Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), the rather impressive, to say the least, largest reptile there is, which also is known to not say no to a bite of human flesh...

Occurring from the Indian East coast to Australia, the saltwater crocodile can grow up to six meters in length and weigh more than 900 kg.

The Postmark was applied at the central Post Office of Seoul, South Korea's capital.