Flag of South Korea

The Flag of South Korea, or Taegukgi (sometimes also romanized as Taegeukgi) is the national flag for
the Republic of Korea. It has three parts: a white background, a red and blue Taeguk, which is a red and
blue Taiji yin- and yang-symbol in the center, and four black trigrams, which are selected from the original
eight, on each corner of the flag.

Design[edit]
The white background is a traditional Korean color. 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 (hangul: kwae) represents one of the four classical elements.
[1]

The four trigrams are described in this table:

Name
inKorean
Nature Seasons
Cardinal
directions
Four
virtues
Family
Four
elements
Meanings

geon
( / )
sky
(
/)
spring
( / )
east
( / )
humanity
( / )
father
( / )
heaven
( / )
justice
( / )

ri
( / )
sun
(
/)
autumn
( / )
south
( / )
justice
( / )
daughter
( / )
fire
( / )
fruition
( / )

gam
( / )
moon
(
/)
winter
( / )
north
( / )
intelligence
( / )
son
( / )
water
( / )
wisdom
( / )

gon
( / )
earth
(
/)
summer
( / )
west
( / )
courtesy
( / )
mother
( / )
earth
( / )
vitality
( /
)



History[edit]

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 theJapan-Korea Treaty of 1876. Although the delegate of the Empire of Japan had the Japanese
national flag,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.
[6]
The most major proposal was described in the
Korea Strategy papers written by the Chinese delegate Huang Zunxian. The proposal was to incorporate
theFlag 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 Hongzhang, but it is unknown how far the Joseon
government explored this proposal.
[7]

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
Japanto 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.
[7]
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 on 1882.
[8]
On January 27, 1883,
the Joseon government officially promulgated Taegukgi to be used as the official national flag.
[7]

Before the division of Korea, the current South Korean flag was used for the entire country. However,
after the separation, the flags divided into Flag of South Korea and the Flag of North Korea.
[9]
The current
Korean flag was declared official by the government of South Korea on October 15, 1949.
[7]

Specifications[edit]
Dimensions[edit]

The width and length is 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 one-fourth of the diagonal. The top of taegeuk should
be red and the bottom of taegeuk should be blue. The groups of bars are put in the four corners of the
flag.

Colors[edit]

The colors of Taegukgi are specified on the "Ordinance Act of the Law concerning the National Flag of
the Republic of Korea."( )
[10]
There were no specification for shade of colors until
1997, when South Korean governmentdecided to provide standard specification for the flag. On October,
1997, Presidential ordinance on the standard specification of the flag of the Republic of Korea was
promulgated,
[11]
and that specification was acceded by the National Flag Law in 2007