REPUBLIC OF KOREA

TAEGUKKI, the Korean National Flag has a very philosophical meaning. The Flag symbolizes peace, unity, creation, brightness, and infinity. The origin comes from the oriental philosophy called Eum-Yan, in chinese pronunciation Yin-Yang, and summarizes the thoughts of I CHING (Called YEOK in Korean).

Depicted in the center of the flag is the TAEGUK, a circle divided equally and locked in perfect balance. The upper red section is the YANG, and the lower BLUE section is the YIN. The two opposites express the dualism of the universe, good and evil, night and day, hot and cold, male and female, dark and light, being and not being, and so on.

The central thought in the Taeguk indicates that while there is a constant movement within the sphere of infinity, there are also balance and harmony. As a simple example, kindness and cruelty could be considered. If a parent is kind to a child, it is good, but they could spoil and weaken the child and thus lead the child to become a vicious man and a source of disgrace to his ancestors.

The four trigrams at the corners of the flag (called KEW in Korean) also represent the concept of opposites and balance. The three unbroken bars in the upper left stand for heaven (Kun), the three broken bars in the lower right stand for earth (Kon). In the upper right is two broken and one unbroken bars, this stands for water (Kam), and in the lower left are two unbroken and one broken bars standing for fire (Yi).