Over the last couple years, I’ve written several articles and guides talking about the Korean National Park Service Stamp Tour Program. In September 2023, I was excited to submit my finished booklet, having collected all 21 stamps.
After a 3 month wait, I received my completion rewards for both the tree (21 stamps/bear) and leaf (10 stamps/mountain goat) levels. But I’m a bit disappointed.
- My main issue is that they have diminished the quality of the reward patch – the bear now looks like a blob with eyes. Below I showcase the old vs new bear patches, with the old in my opinion just looking so much better.
- They also changed the medal – specifically the attachment. They have changed the metal from something you could practically use – such as attached to a key ring or to a bag zipper – to now a military achievement metal design. I guess it can be attached to a hiking bag, I guess. But now far less versatile.
My second issue is about the certificates and didn’t consider the participants when transitioning the 21 stamp reward books to the 22 stamp booklets. Specifically, the certificate they provided me is wrong.
As I discussed in my article on the 2023 change in the stamp booklet, the old booklet (pre-2023) had only 21 stamps while the new one has 22. This change added on Jeju Isalnd’s Hallasan National Park, which previously was not part of this program.
As a result of this change, all the new reward patches that they ordered in 2023 were now ’22’ instead of 21. Because of the nature of this ordering scheme, I can completely understand why although I completed the 21-stamp booklet, I received the 22 patches.
My issue is in regard to the certificate – at the time of applying for my rewards in person at a national park office, they specifically checked off the box for the 21-stamp booklet. So why does my certificate say 22 stamps complete? My certificate had to custom made for me and the number of stamps is not part of the golden raised material, so clearly it was custom printed for me. So they are just careless, and batch printed everyone’s certificates without a care about the actual participant.
You might ask why I care so much about a number on a certificate. Well, to me having a certificate that says 22 feels like lying. Sure, I have been to Jeju Island’s Hallasan National Park a couple times – but I haven’t been back since I started the stamp challenge. I had to double back to nearly all the parks (15 of the 21) to get these stamps, and if I had made another trip to Jeju Island, then I would have earned 22. But I didn’t so I don’t deserve the 22-stamp certificate. Going forward, the people who now finish the challenge would have completed a massive trip’s worth of extra effort to get the EXACT same reward as me, and on principal I don’t think that’s fair.
I feel particularly passionate about this tour program in part because the article I wrote about this stamp tour back in 2020 put me in touch with KNPS and I did some stuff with them as a result. Since then, I’ve written a lot about the program with a lot of excitement. So, it’s just a bit of disappointment.
