Korean Pens

[rdh]

Hi all,

 

Although Korea isn't really the land of the rising sun, it is close. My daughter lived in Japan for a couple years and took a trip to Korea, where she bought me a ball pen and mechanical pencil set. They were made by a company called Java. My opinion of the set was that it is of moderate quality. I looked up their web site, and saw a nice assortment of fountain pens, but not much information about the nib composition or size. I was wondering if anyone has tried any of them and/or has first-hand knowledge of them.

 

Thanks so much.

 

Dave

[David R Munson]

I lived in Korea for a year or so and was never able to dig up any Korean-made fountain pens, though in retrospect I could have been looking in better places. Do post again if you happen to find out anything about Korean pens!

[donwinn]

I have a Korean-made Pilot Scholar, which is a great pen. I read somewhere that the Pilot 78G was made in Korea, but I never verified the claim.

 

Donnie

[stan]

It appears Pilot and Platinum marketed/made pens in Korea. Don't know about Sailor. In the pre-war era Korea was a Japanese colony and as best I can determine all the pens came from Japan. Search the archives of FPN for an assortment of what some readers have discovered. I have pictures of three Pilots here.

[KostasK]

Hi all, and Dave,

Indeed there are some (low-tier only?) Pilot models made in Korea, like the Crystal, the Scholar and the A2.

Two Korean makers are Java and APIS. Check these topics on fpn for links

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/28628-apis-pens/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/200719-korean-pens/

I have an old APIS, almost a copy of a Parker 180, decent and cute pen, my guess is from the early '80s.

A slightly different opinion here: http://dirck.delint.ca/Apis.html

I was browsing their extensive site and I did see an "homage" to the Parker Frontier...

Maybe there are more? who knows..

 

Happy Hunting to all of us

Edited October 26, 2011 by KostasK

[Sailor Kenshin]

Interesting; thanks.

 

The 'Grace' fountain pen on their site is reminiscent of my Waterman Maestro.

[roger3]

I am instructing at Suwon University, Hwa-Sung city, in College of Physical Education and recently picked up a Pilot "Venice" model that has steel nib, squeeze converter, nib stamped "Made in Korea". Pen writes smoothly and without hesitation. Also just purchased Miko Masters that appears to be stainless steel body, steel nib, standard twist converter and also writes well right out of the box. I would love to know more info about these pens

[ironduke]

I heard Java uses Schmidt nibs.

As for Pilot and Miko...

Pilot Korea is a Korean subsidiary for (Japanese) Pilot corporation. Think of relations between Parker England and Parker USA. They sold lots of made in Korea Pilot pen with Japanese design last century. I heard that in even 80s lots of people used Pilot(or Parker), and saw a 1988 advertisement which endorses a fountain pen for middle school student(age 13-15).

But Pilot Korea do not import Japanese Pilot goods or make new pens nowadays. What they doing now is a mystery.

 

Miko is a subsidiary of Micro, which was a 80s-90s Korean stationary brand. Micro's specialty was mechanical pencils, which is highly regarded to Korean collecters so their mechanical pencil is a collectible by now. I do not know well about their fountain pen, but I think it should be an inexpensive workhorse like Pilot made in Korea fountain pens.

 

Korean pen collectors seems to not particularly value Korean pens, since they tend to have designs which are not that original and have OEM nibs instead of Korean nibs.

[basterma]

I have a Micro Korea fountain pen I picked up in Damascus three years ago. Its a fine point and is a bit springy. It writes smoothly and starts easily. Its balances nicely, but the cap snaps in place with a bit of a wobble. Its has a plastic body and grip, with a metal covered cap. I'd buy another model from the company if it exists.

[roger3]

Thank you for responding to thread. I emailed Micro corporation, located in Seoul, but no reply to my inquiry about fountain pens. As noted, the Miko "Masters" is a workhorse type of pen and it does write well enough without issues. Indeed, it is a mystery what Pilot Korea and Miko might be doing these days. Perhaps when I visit Seoul in April I might stop by Micro office.

[basterma]

I have a break from work coming up in a few weeks when I'll post pictures of it.

[jjlax10]

Does anyone know about Ta Tung pens?

[RNHC]

Does anyone know about Ta Tung pens?

 

I think you got the wrong country. Ta Tung sounds Chinese.

[ironduke]

I searched Korean fountain pen forums and found out old Miko and Apis made nibs in Korea, as well as old Pilot Korea. And It seems, some time ago, Miko even made Maki-e model with Japanese ebonite feed/nib. I wonder what would they look like. Miko(and Micro) was Bankrupt on 1997 so their former employee made a new corporation named eMicro but I do not even know whether they make fountain pens or not...

 

I guess only Java and Apis makes fountain pen on Korea now. Java, which is another Korean fountain pen company, uses Iridium Point Germany nib. Schmidt nib it seems.

If you find old Miko gold nib model or Made in Korea Pilot by chance, I think it would be a fine addition to the collection.

Edited April 11, 2012 by ironduke

[Hex]

There is one on the Bay advertised as Korean and the nib has Korean writing so I guess it's authentic.

My link

No connection, only interest.

[ironduke]

There is one on the Bay advertised as Korean and the nib has Korean writing so I guess it's authentic.

My link

No connection, only interest.

 

Quite interesting. On the nib of this pen the writing is '천리마(Chollima)'. It means an exceptional horse, but it has the nuance of 'red commie' word since the word is used in name of North Korean's planned industrialization movement on 1950s~1970s. And Bulgaria was on the Eastern Bloc, so I suspect this is a North Korean pen.

Edited April 12, 2012 by ironduke

[David1256]

It appears Pilot and Platinum marketed/made pens in Korea. Don't know about Sailor. In the pre-war era Korea was a Japanese colony and as best I can determine all the pens came from Japan. Search the archives of FPN for an assortment of what some readers have discovered. I have pictures of three Pilots here.

Korea was under Japanese control for a brief time during the war.

[katerchen]

TUL rollerball and gel pens are very nice writers. I carry a pair around for situations when I simply can't use a FP (like filling out a customs declaration form when coming back)

 

Their ballpoint however is terrible.

 

-k

[stan]

Korea was a Japanese colony for almost 50 years. During that time, the Japanese prohibited the creation of indigenous industries that competed with Japanese imports. Basically everything bought had to come from Japan. During the Japanese wars in China and Asia and the South Pacific, Korean men were conscripted into the army. Often they had to be more forceful and patriotic than similar Japanese just to survive in the military. Over 100,000 Korean women were conscripted as comfort women (forced prostitution) to serve Japanese soldiers. Most died from disease, illness, malnutrition, beatings, and war.

 

My best Korean model Japanese pen is a 1970s Pilot Custom with plated nib and solid gold cap band. It was made for giving to dignitaries.

 

Many Japanese pens made for the Korean market are assembled in Korea which allows them to say MADE IN KOREA.

[ink-syringe]

Actually a bit more than 50 years in reality. Before Korea was annexed as a colony officially there was a period of encroachment and semi-control by Japan which forced Korea into lots of unfair treaties for the development of rail and mining, etc. Lots of foreign powers were jockeying and Korea, having observed what happenings in China, had almost no choice but to cozy up to the Japanese who were running many things already and did a tricky job of getting China (which was obligated to defend Korea, despite Korea being a fully independent state, due to a Confucian formalized ritual subordination) out of the way with some brilliant and sinister maneuvers. China, busy with it's own problems was happy to be free of any obligation. Korea, justly worried about it's fate (again China) and worried about the Russians, amongst others, was really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Japan is the land of the rising sun if you are sitting EXACTLY where I am right now (Gyeongsang-do), the seat of the Shilla Kingdom, the ancient capital of Gyeongju. haha! There are some that postulate that that is precisely where that name comes from.

Who do you think the very first Japanese were?

Enough of this Korea is not quite Japan poop. Enough of this Korea is important as a conduit of culture and science from China to Japan. Korea is awesome and amazing intrinsically. Are there people who think that France is interesting because it is between Germany and Italy on one side and Spain on the other? Who would think that way?

As for pens, Pilot Korea is not the same as Pilot Japan. The models are totally different. If you go to the iconic Pilot store at Chongak you can not walk in and buy a Custom Heritage 92 or a Metropolitan. They have totally different models. Some good pens but nowadays wildly overpriced. Some Pilots were manufactured here decades ago but I think no longer.

Korea is NOT a good country for pens. Import from Japan or Europe is hideously expensive ($320 for a Lamy 2k in the bookstore) and there are no really great local brands.

I love you Korea, but you are not a pen country.