South Korean Flag (Taegeukgi)

The Taegeukgi

The South Korean flag, or Taegeukgi (태극기;太極旗), represents much history and symbolism. Its design was reportedly suggested by Qing Dynasty diplomat Ma Jianzhong in 1882 and the Taegeukgi was officially declared the national flag of Korea by King Gojong on March 6, 1883. The Taegeukgi was both a symbol of the independence movement and of resistance during the Japanese occupation and mere possession of the flag was punishable by death.

Versions of the Taegeukgi were adopted as the national flag by both North and South Korea after achieving independence from the Japanese occupation but the North changed its flag to a more Soviet-inspired one just three years later in 1948. The symbolism of the flag incorporates Far Eastern philosophy as well as that of the Korean people to bring prosperity and peace to their country. The national flag is very sacred to the Korean people and therefore may not be used in any degrading fashion.

Flag Symbols

In the center of the Korea flag is a large red and blue Taegeuk (태극;太極), which is the Korean cognate of Taiji, the Taoist philosophical concept of Yin-Yang or the idea of opposite yet complimentary forces in the universe. This Chinese-inspired philosophy heavily influenced Korean culture, which is clearly apparent in the use of the Taegeuk. The upper part of the circle representing yang is in red, and the lower part representing yin is in blue. Each of these symbols represent the ability of these two forces to live harmoniously together.

The Yin-Yang represents the purity of the nation and its affinity for peace. Surrounding the circle are four trigrams, or kwae (괘;卦), which are sets of broken and unbroken bars. Trigrams originate from the classic Chinese text the I Ching or Book of Changes.

The kwae in the upper left-hand corner is called geon (건;乾) and represents heaven, spring, east, and virtue. Gon (곤;坤 )in the lower left-hand corner represents earth, summer, west, and justice. Gam (감;坎) in the upper right corner represents moon, winter, north, and knowledge or wisdom. Ri (리;離) in the lower right corner represents sun, fall, south, and courtesy.

• ||| Force (☰; geon (건;乾)) = heaven (天), spring (春), east (東), virtue (仁)
• ¦¦¦ Field (☷; gon (곤;坤)) = earth (地), summer (夏), west (西), justice (義)
• ¦|¦ Gorge (☵; gam (감; 坎)) = moon (月), winter (冬), north (北), knowledge or wisdom (智)
• |¦| Radiance (☲; ri (리; 離)) = sun (日), fall (秋), south (南), courtesy (禮)

Each of these kwae is positioned in such a way that they balance the other out. The broken bars represent yin and the unbroken bars symbolize yang. According to philosophy these are all representative of the movements of objects and events in the universe.

Adding to the mysticism of the South Korean flag is its incorporation of the binary or base two number system. The binary system uses 0 and 1 to represent numeric values. When the unbroken lines in the trigrams are replaced by 0 and the broken lines are replaced by 1, this parallels the concept of the bit in binary computing.