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History of the South Korean flag

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South Korea

The Korean flag was slightly changed in 21 February 1984, but the disposition of the ying yang seems strange (left blue, right red instead red over blue). I checked some plates pre-1984 and in all the plates the flag is red over blue. The flag was not adopted until 1950 but was in use de facto after 1945; perhaps the design posted is derived from the designs used from 1945-50,
Jaume Ollé, 31 December 1998

by David Kendall

I saw on TV recently what seems to be the first flag of the Republic of Korea. This was on the TV show M*A*S*H, a show from the 1970s, but set in the times of the Korean War. The flag references they have (the show is set on a US Army medical base) are quite accurate (ie a 48-star flag flies over the compound, along with a UN and S. Korean flag), so I don't doubt the authenticity of the flag. The flag was shown in a good shot in the episode "Welcome to Korea" (season opener of season 5), and I attach it as KR-1952.GIF (because it was referenced in the episode that it takes place shortly before September 19, 1952). The major differences: the four corner elemnts are smaller and closer to the corner, and the ying-yang is on its side. The ying-yang also appeared to be drawn differently, but I couldn't get a clear enough shot of it to tell for sure how it appeared.
David Kendall, 29 December 1998

I just opened by chance my Crampton's Complete Guide to Flags, 1990, just on the page where Korea is and noticed a sentence that did not sound familiar.

So, it says: South Korea has kept the flag of the former Kingdom of Korea, althought it has been modified. ... and the trigrams (kwae) are reduced from eight to four."

So, what was the flag of the Kingdom of Korea with 8 kwaes? What the change occured?
Zeljko Heimer, 13 January 1999

by Jarig Bakker

In 'The International Geography', London, 1911, I found this flag - the old flag of Korea, before it was occupied by Japan in 1905. Korea ceased to exist until 1947, after which a lot of things happened.

However the 'old Korean flag' differs in several respects from the present South Korean flag:

The 4 I-ching signs are arranged differently
They are colored blue in stead of black.
The Yin-Yang - sign is much more intricate.

I scanned the flag. Perhaps some Korean FOTWer can tell us more about the 8 kwaes?
Jarig Bakker, 14 January 1999

That's IT! That's the Korean flag I saw in the episode of M*A*S*H! (I coudln't get a good enough view of the ying-yang symbol on my VCR, but that's definitely what I saw!) I have no reason to doubt the fact that this flag was used in Korea during the war - I don't think that they changed their flag suddenly in 1947, but it probably took time. I was pretty sure the "kwae"s were black on the flag I saw, however, but that is the flag!
David Kendall, 13 January 1999

I think the number 8 comes naturally (2x2x2). Either of the three lines in a trigram can be either yin (- -) or yang (---). According to my I Ching, the symbolism is this:

yin-yin-yin (K'un) - earth - mother/receptive (lower fly of S. Korean flag)

yin-yin-yang (Kên) - mountain - third son/keeping still

yin-yang-yin (K'an) - water - second son/abysmal (upper fly)

yin-yang-yang (Sun) - wind - first daughter/gentle

yang-yin-yin (Chên) - thunder - first son/the arousing

yang-yin-yang (Li) - fire - second daughter/clinging (lower hoist)

yang-yang-yin (Tui) - lake - third daughter/joyful

yang-yang-yang (Ch'ien) - heaven - father/creative (upper hoist)

Ole Andersen, 14 January 1999

Korea, 1893

by Mark Sensen

Royal Korean Consulate in Hamburg 1893

by Mark Sensen

I have a photocopy of an article by H.G. Ströhl called "Wappen und Flagge von Korea" in Herold, Oct. 1893, nr. 10, XXIV. It shows two flags. The first is labeled "Koreanische Flagge" and is like the modern flag, but the yin-yang - sign is much more intricate (like the GIF Jarig posted) and the upper part is blue, the lower blue. According to the text normally only the 4 main kwae appear on the flag, most of the time blue. It also says that the arrangement of the kwae is not always the same. The second flag shown is the one flown at the Royal Korean Consulate in Hamburg, and has 8 kwae, coloured yellow. The yin-yang - sign is like on the modern flag, but rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise. I have some doubts if the arrangement of these 8 kwae is correct, since two opposing kwae are not each others inversion. On the image of an old Chinese wind rose shown in the article they are inverted, so maybe that arrangement is more correct.

Chinese wind rose with 8 kwae

by Mark Sensen

The I Ching , the "Book of Changes", mentioned by Ole consists of the 64 combinations you get by combining the 8 kwae and was and is used by fortune-tellers to give answers to questions. [Source: Hans Biederman, "Prisma van de symbolen", 1991/1996, Dutch translation of "Knaurs Lexicon der Symbole"]

The flag was first hoisted 22 August 1882 when the first ambassadors were sent to Japan, an adopted officially 27 January 1883. Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 and annexed on 22 August 1910. After the liberation the country was divided along the 38th degree of latitude. The Republic of Korea was established in the southern (American) zone on 15 August 1948, which readopted the flag in the same year when the colours and shape were established by law. On 25 January 1950 the flag was adopted officially when the kwae were revised slightly. In 1984 the lay-out was again slightly changed. [Sources: Barraclough, "Flags of the World", 1981; Whitney Smith, "Spectrum Vlaggenboek", 1975; Kent Alexander, "Flags of the World", 1992.]
Mark Sensen, 14 January 1999

This was done eight months before independence by General MacArthur.
[Source: H. Gresham Carr, "Flags of the World", 1956.]

I forgot to mention the flag is known as T'aeguk or "Great Polarity".
[Source: William Crampton, "The World's Flags", 1990.]
Mark Sensen, 14 January 1999

During the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) the Korean t'aeguk circle flag was prohibited to use.

The Japanese governor of Korea's flag was used that is light blue flag with Japanese national flag (hinomaru) in a canton like British blue ensign despite of a different color shade. The canton is one fourth of whole flag in size. The light blue stands for justice, fairness and philanthropy.

1910-1883

Korea used a similar flag to present flag. The t'aeguk is longer than current one and coloue was reverse:blur over red. The black four trigrams are placed in differently: There were two broken and one unbroken lines in upper left/ three unbroken lines in upper right/three broken lines in bottom left/one broken and two unbroken lines in bottom right.

1876-1854

An old Japanese flag book published in 1876/1854 shows square yellow flag with red rugged border as a Korean King's standard. The flag bears a green dragon having red tongue and gray clouds.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 21 March 1999