North Korea’s New Year Stamp Highlights Pyongyang’s Modernization: Kim Jong Un’s Effort to Break Free from the Past

In a surprising break from tradition, North Korea’s 2025 New Year commemorative stamp—released on Wednesday—no longer includes the Juche calendar, a defining feature of the country’s propaganda for decades. The absence of the Juche calendar has raised questions among analysts, who speculate that Kim Jong Un may be moving to strengthen or shift his personal cult of leadership, distancing himself from the legacy of his predecessors.

The Korea Stamp Corporation, the state-run agency responsible for stamp production in North Korea, unveiled one New Year stamp design and five postcard varieties on January 1. Until last year, the Juche year (based on the birth year of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founding leader) was a prominent feature on official stamps and calendars. However, in a noticeable shift, the Juche year was completely omitted from both the 2025 stamps and postcards.

The Juche calendar has long been an essential element of North Korea’s personality cult around its leaders, marking a break from the standard Gregorian calendar. Experts believe this latest move to phase out the Juche system from official symbols is a deliberate attempt by Kim Jong Un to establish his own distinct identity, separate from that of his father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

With the Juche year now absent from the New Year stamp and official government calendars, analysts suggest that this is a step toward fully sidelining the system by 2025, signaling a shift in how North Korea presents its leadership.

The 2025 New Year stamp features an image of the Pyongyang New City, a major urban development project completed in May 2024. The stamp prominently displays the new 80-story high-rise apartment building, part of a larger effort to modernize the city. Over 4,100 housing units have been constructed in the Hyongjesan District, which extends from a major intersection in front of the Pyongyang Three Revolutions Exhibition Hall to the Sambong Bridge.

The accompanying postcards showcase scenes from last year’s housewarming ceremonies, where families celebrated moving into their newly built homes. These images highlight North Korea’s commitment to its Local Development 20X10 policy, which aims to improve housing and infrastructure across the country. It also serves as a visual message from the regime, reinforcing its focus on domestic progress as a key priority for 2025.

North Korea’s Voice of Korea, the country’s international propaganda outlet, aired a program titled “Drawn into the World of Stamps.” The broadcast highlighted the role of stamps as a tool for promoting the regime’s message both domestically and internationally. In the program, North Korean officials discussed how stamps act as certificates and business cards that reflect the country’s identity, history, and achievements.

One guest, Kim Kyung Il, an employee of the Korea International Travel Company, commented, “Our stamps reflect our military culture, traditions, and customs. Foreign visitors are always thrilled when I show them the famous places depicted on our stamps.” His wife, Oh Shim Hyang, shared, “I bought a stamp featuring our women’s soccer players proudly waving the national flag after their double medal win at the World Cup last year. It was a powerful image, and I couldn’t resist buying it.”

Stamps have long been a key component of North Korea’s state propaganda, with the Department of Propaganda and Agitation overseeing their production. Stamps highlight the regime’s economic and military achievements each year and announce the leadership’s goals for the coming year. By celebrating historical milestones and notable accomplishments, North Korea uses its stamps to project a sense of national pride and progress to its citizens and the international community.

Because stamps are exempt from international sanctions, they offer North Korea a rare opportunity to earn foreign currency. The country often designs stamps featuring historical landmarks, cultural relics, and natural monuments to attract international collectors and buyers and promote its national identity and unique history.

According to the Korea Stamp Corporation, North Korea is set to release several new stamps on January 20 to commemorate important achievements from the past year. These will include:

• The Women’s National Soccer Team’s Victories: Stamps will honor the team’s triumphs in the FIFA Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups.
• Kim Kum Yong’s Victory: A stamp will celebrate Kim Kum Yong’s gold medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championship.

Additionally, North Korea is expected to release several commemorative stamps throughout the year to mark significant events:

• February 16: 83rd Anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s Birth, also known as the Day of the Shining Star
• April 15: 113th Anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s Birth, also known as the Day of the Sun
• May 25: 70th Anniversary of the founding of the Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan)
• August 15: 80th Anniversary of Liberation Day
• October 10: 80th Anniversary of the The Party Foundation Day