Flag of South Korea

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"Taegukgi" and "Taegeukgi" redirect here. For 2004 South Korean movie, see Taegukgi (film).
South Korea
Flag of South Korea.svg
Name Taegukgi / Taegeukgi
(Korean: 태극기)
(Hanja: 太極旗)
Use National flag and ensign
Proportion 3:2
Adopted January 27, 1883 (original version used by the Korean Empire)
October 1997 (current version)
Flag of South Korea
Hangul 태극기
Hanja 太極旗
Revised Romanization Taegeukgi
McCune–Reischauer T'aegŭkki

The flag of South Korea, also known as the Taegukgi (also spelled as Taegeukgi, literally "Taeguk flag") is the national flag of South Korea. It has three parts: a white background, a red and blue Taeguk in the center, and four black trigrams, which are selected from the original eight, on each corner of the flag.

Design

The flag's background is white, which is a traditional Korean color, common to the daily attire of 19th century Koreans. It represents peace and purity. The circle in the middle is derived from the philosophy of yin and yang and represents the balance of the universe. The blue section represents the negative cosmic forces, and the red section represents the opposing positive cosmic forces. The trigrams together represent the principle of movement and harmony. Each trigram (hangeul: 괘 [gwae]; hanja: 卦) represents one of the four classical elements.[1]

These four trigrams are described in the table below:

Name in Korean Nature Seasons Cardinal directions Four virtues Family Four elements Meanings
Palgwae Geon.svg geon
(건 / 乾)		 heaven
(천 / 天)		 spring
(춘 / 春)		 east
(동 / 東)		 humanity
(인 / 仁)		 father
(부 / 父)		 heaven
(천 / 天)		 justice
(정의 / 正義)
Palgwae Ri.svg ri
(리 / 離)		 sun
(일 / 日)		 autumn
(추 / 秋)		 south
(남 / 南)		 justice
(의 / 義)		 daughter
(녀 / 女)		 fire
(화 / 火)		 fruition
(결실 / 結實)
Palgwae Gam.svg gam
(감 / 坎)		 moon
(월 / 月)		 winter
(동 / 冬)		 north
(북 / 北)		 intelligence
(지 / 智)		 son
(자 / 子)		 water
(수 / 水)		 wisdom
(지혜 / 智慧)
28px gon
(곤 / 坤)		 earth
(지 / 地)		 summer
(하 / 夏)		 west
(서 / 西)		 courtesy
(례 / 禮)		 mother
(모 / 母)		 earth
(토 / 土)		 vitality
(생명력 / 生命力)

History

The earliest surviving depiction of the flag was printed in a U.S. Navy book Flags of Maritime Nations in July 1882.[2]

The lack of the national flag only became an issue in 1876, in the Joseon Dynasty. Before 1876, a national flag did not exist and it was not considered important. The issue began during the negotiations for the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876. Although the delegate of the Empire of Japan had the Japanese national flag, the Joseon Dynasty could not hang a corresponding flag. Thus, there were some proposals to create a flag, but the issue was considered unimportant by the government. At 1880, the proliferation of foreign negotiations led to a need for the national flag.[3] The most major proposal was described in the ‘Korea Strategy’ papers written by the Chinese delegate Huang Zunxian. The proposal was to incorporate the Flag of the Qing Dynasty for the Joseon Dynasty. In response to the proposal, the government sent the delegate of Lee Young-Sook to explore the possibility of the issue through the politician Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang agreed with some parts of the proposal, but proposed that some other factors should be differed. The Qing Dynasty agreed with Li Hongzhang, but it is unknown how far the Joseon government explored this proposal.[4]

The issue was then shelved, and reemerged with the ratification of the United States-Korea Treaty of 1882. The controversy arose after the delegate Lee Eung-Jun presented a flag similar to the flag of Japan to the Chinese official Ma Jianzhong. In response to the discussion, Ma Jianzhong argued against the proposed idea of using the Flag of the Qing Dynasty and proposed a flag with a white background, with a half-red and half-black circle in the center, with eight black bars around the flag.[4] On August 22, 1882, Park Yeong-hyo created a scale model of the Taegukgi to the Joseon government. Park Yeong-hyo became the first person to use the Taegukgi in the Empire of Japan in 1882.[5] On January 27, 1883, the Joseon government officially promulgated Taegukgi to be used as the official national flag.[4]

File:Foundation ceremony of the Korean People's Army.jpg
A portrait of Kim Il-sung and the Taegukgi in 1948. The flag was also used in the North before the division.

Before the division of Korea, a flag similar to the current South Korean flag was used for the entire country. However, after the division, two flags started to be used, the flag of South Korea and the flag of North Korea.[6] The current South Korean flag was declared official by the government of South Korea on October 15, 1949,[4] although it had been used as the de facto national flag before then.

In October 1997, the exact colors of the flag were specified via presidential decree.

Historical progression of designs

  • FIAV historical.svg1945–1948

  • FIAV historical.svg1948–1949

  • FIAV historical.svg1984–1997

  • 1997–present

Specifications

Dimensions

File:Flag of South Korea (construction sheet).svg
Flag construction sheet

The width and height are in the ratio of 3 to 2. There are five sections on the flag, the taegeuk and the four groups of bars. The diameter of the circle is half of the height. The top of the taegeuk should be red and the bottom of the taegeuk should be blue. The groups of bars are put in the four corners of the flag.[7]

Colors

The colors of Taegukgi are specified on the "Ordinance Act of the Law concerning the National Flag of the Republic of Korea." (Korean: 대한민국 국기법 시행령)[8] There were no specification for shade of colors until 1997, when South Korean government decided to provide standard specification for the flag. In October 1997, a Presidential ordinance on the standard specification of the South Korean flag was promulgated,[9] and that specification was acceded by the National Flag Law in 2007.

The colors are defined in legislation by the Munsell and CIE color systems:

Scheme Munsell[10] CIE (x, y, Y)[10] Pantone[10] Hex triplet[10]
White N 9.5 N/A N/A #FFFFFF
Red 6.0R 4.5/14 0.5640, 0.3194, 15.3 186 Coated #C60C30
Blue 5.0PB 3.0/12 0.1556, 0.1354, 6.5 294 Coated #003478
Black N 0.5 N/A N/A #000000

Similar versions

  • FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi of the Joseon Dynasty (before 1800)

  • 朝鮮國王王旗.PNG

    FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi of the Joseon Dynasty, King Jeongjo (ca. 1800)

  • Flag of old Korea.jpg

    FIAV historical.svgOld flags of Korea, published by Japan, China and Korea in order.[11][12][13]

  • 朴泳孝作 朝鮮國旗.jpg

    FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi by Park Yeong-hyo (September 1882)

  • 1882년 11월작 태극기.jpg

    FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi (November 1882)

  • Flag of the Joseon Dynasty.jpg

    FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi (1910)

  • FIAV historical.svgOlder version of the Taegukgi on a U.S. postage stamp (1944)

  • FIAV historical.svgFlag of southern Korea from 1945 to 1948; this flag is similar to the current South Korean flag with the exception of two of the four kwaes and a smaller version of the Taegeuk.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Flag Production - National Archives of Korea
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Editor's note: The captions of images are wrong and should be interchanged each other.

External links

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