2017-08-10 Thu

Princess Diana had an undying charm and that feature had a profound effect on many countries. Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the late royal’s death on 31st August, it has emerged that North Korea too was heavily impressed by Princess Diana. They once even paid a tribute to the Princess of Wales. Despite the East Asian country being separated from the rest of the world, Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 at St Pauls Cathedral in London led to celebrations in the hermit kingdom.

The secretive state supported the birth of Prince William in 1982. North Korea paid homage to the royals by issuing a series of commemorative stamps that were sold in the country's capital of Pyongyang during the rule of Kim Il-sung.One collection of stamps were marked "DPR Korea" and featured Charles and Diana at their wedding. Another set released in 1982 marked Diana's 21st birthday.

The main intention was not to showcase their adoration for the British royals, but solely to raise money for the hard-up regime.

Back in the 80s, they had depicted Princess Diana on the stamps as they thought that the British were buying stamps. The US is another country that uses the postal service to make a ton of money off gullible collectors. Most of them don't have a high market value. New issues, in mint condition, sell for around $0.50 (39p).

But they're just printing paper – which is worth nothing – and receiving valuable dollars for it. It's more or less free money.

Nobody in Europe or North America collects stamps anymore. Now, they're pushing Chinese themes because they know collectors are buying them.

Similarly to Western countries' postal services, North Korea also designs stamps to commemorate national achievements and world events – with typical subjects including the Ryugyong Hotel and the 2014 World Cup, though they failed to qualify for it.