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Boxes come in all sorts of sizes, themes

Published: 03 Jan. 2014, 20:12

At 7 meters tall (22.9 feet) and 6 tons, Gwangju boasts the nation’s largest postbox.

In addition to the Slow Postboxes, there are other bizarre postboxes throughout Korea.

In Ulsan, where the morning sun first shines on Korea, there is a postbox 5 meters tall (16.4 feet), which was installed in 2006. There are two types of postcards, and while it’s free to send them, one is for recipients, while the other just lists the hopes of the sender. Some of the “hope” postcards are also read on the MBC radio show “Let’s Meet at 3.”

Meanwhile, the postbox at Soowan Lake Park in Gwangju is the country’s largest. It’s 7 meters tall and weighs 6 tons.

Again, you can send a private letter or write for KBC’s “Memory Finder” radio show.

Letters sent from the Geumgang Migratory Bird Observatory in Gunsan, North Jeolla, are delivered with the movement of the birds. Postcards are delivered once a year, on Oct. 31, when spectacled teal start their migration. Although there is a fee to enter the observatory, the postcards are sent for free.

Daecheongbong postbox, at the Jungcheong refuge center on Mount Seorak, Gangwon, is the nation’s “highest” postbox, at 1,676 meters above sea level. Postcards are sold here, and novelty postcards to mark visits are available.

Mowoondong Village in Yeongwol, Gangwon, houses perhaps one of most-needed postboxes in the nation. With about 30 families relying on the box in this remote town, the village leader, Kim Heung-sik, had the postbox installed outside his house so he could deliver the mail himself to the town elders.