Korean Flag

The national flag of Korea colors are red, blue, white, and black. King Gojong decreed the Taegeukgi to be the official flag of Korea on March 6, 1883. The Taegeukgi is the white background with a red and blue “Ying and Yang” design which was derived by graphing the length of the sun's rotation and shadow.

The taegeukgi of the Korean Flag symbolizes resistance and independence from the Japanese imperialism and occupation. Upon independence, North and South Korea adopted versions of the taegeukgi. Later, North Korea changed its national flag to reflect elements of a Soviet-inspired design.

Additionally, the national flag of Korea also includes four trigrams, which originates in the Chinese book I Ching, representing four Chinese philosophical ideas about the universe: harmony, symmetry, balance, circulation.

The colors of the Korean flag represent different things. White represents "cleanliness of the people." The taegeuk or red and blue circle symbolizes the origin of all things in the universe; "Yin" is the negative things of the world in blue, and "Yang" represents the positive things of the world in red. Together they supposedly represent balance.