APPU Holds Meeting in Seoul
Asia-Pacific Postal Union draws some 150 reps from
24 member countries

Korea Post President Hwang Jung-yon announced recently the convening of the 9th Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU) general conference May 30-June 4 at Sheraton-Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul, which is comparable to the Asian Games in the postal sector. The APPU, set up in 1962 at the initiation of four Asian countries, is designed to strengthen postal cooperation and development in countries in the Asia-Pacific region with its headquarters in Bangkok.
APPU holds its general conference every five years and its last general conference in Tehran in 2000 decided to hold the next meeting in Seoul.
The Seoul meeting is expected to draw some 150 representatives from 24 member countries headed by postal ministers or vice ministers. The secretary general of Universal Postal Union, Yoshio Utsumi, and postal ministers of major countries including the U.S., Britain, Germany, and France will also come to Seoul as observers. Korea Post President Hwang Jung-yon who will lead the Korean delegation will try to show off the development of Korea Post and Korea's IT, which is at the top of the world in terms of development at the general conference. The international postal event is a good opportunity also for showing off the postal service in Korea that is equipped with IT to build a base for Korea Post to advance overseas.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) Postal Technology Research Center will host Korea Postal Forum 2005 June 1-2 at the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul with a main theme of 'future post in the ubiquitous age.' There will be an exhibition of postal service and related logistics industry, especially, research results conducted by corporations, goods and new technologies.
The event is also designed to publicize the technology advancement in the domestic postal industry. From May 1, Korea Post has been discounting by 30 percent on postal charges for international parcels through international postal service EMS contract charge system at post offices throughout the country.
Korea Post said the new discount system is designed to help reduce postal charge expenses for SMEs and facilitate international parcel service. Individuals with large international parcels can take advantage of the discount system. The EMS discount system is separate from the normal charge table because the charge rates are based on contracts between the postal offices and customers within the limit of 70 percent of the charge table.
Korea Post will try to spur the reform of its logistics process by providing faster, safer and inexpensive EMS service with the start of EMS contract discount system. Korea Post announced that it has installed the international special delivery EMS delivery guarantee service with Japan, China, and Hong Kong under agreements with postal authorities of those countries.
EMS delivery guarantee service has been introduced to provide the best possible service to customers. When a parcel is accepted at the post office for overseas delivery under the EMS delivery guarantee electronic system, which is able to issue the number of postal matters and input the postal number of addressee, the delivery date of the parcel will be provided taking into account holidays, work days and airline schedules. If delivery misses the promised date, the postal charge will be refunded, provided the delay was not caused by custom inspections or missing a delivery address.
The post office said parcels or mail would be delivered within two days under the special delivery service to Japan, China and Hong Kong enabling Korea Post to improve its international postal delivery service. Korea Post said it has issued a stamp worth 220 won to commemorate the 57th International Whaling Commission annual conference held in Ulsan May 27-June 24. The stamp is available from all post offices around the country and 1.6 million issued to date. The brand new stamp has been designed with the Ghost Whale as the subject model, which has been designated as the Natural Monument No.126 in 1962.
The International Whaling Commission set up in 1946 to bring order to the whale hunting industry by conserving whales with its member countries totaling 61. Korea became a member of the commission in 1978.
Korea Post will hold "Love Taegguki"event from May 21 to August 7 this year being the 50th anniversary of the Memorial Day as part of its campaign to hoist the national flag on public holidays. The national flags will be able at Korea Post Shopping Malls with national flag for public places priced at 27,000 won each and those for homes at 15,300 won each. Korea Post issued a special commemorative stamp on the occasion of the centenary of founding of Korea University on May 4, 1905. The stamp worth 220 won each is available from post offices around the country with 1.6 million of them issued so far. The stamp's design is modeled after "Beautiful Incheon Memorial Hall"built to commemorate the founder of the university Kim Seong-soo with the penname of Incheon. nw

(left) A view of APPU Conference in Seoul.