Taegeukgi is the name of the Korean national flag. It features Taegeuk as its central figure. The exact date of its first use is unknown, but people say that it was cited first right after the case of “Un-yo-ho” in 1875. At that time, some countries tried to extend their territories, and these actions influenced Korea. Because of this, Korea had to have diplomatic relations with other countries. To make relations with other countries, Korea needed a national symbol. So Korea recognized the necessity of having a national flag. The emperor of that time, Go-jong, created the first Taegeukgi by himself in 1882. But Korea was robbed of the flag by Japan during Japanese colonization of Korea. Thanks to the efforts of many ancestors, Korea regained independence and Taegeukgi in 1945. After independence, Korea created an association which made the official national flag, and Korea unveiled Taegeukgi on October 15^th, 1949.

Taegeuk(太極) refers to the ultimate source of the universe in which everything is created. Taegeuk is considered as a singular source, in accordance with Yang (color is red) and Yin (color is blue). In other words, Yang means sunny spot and Yin means shade. At the edges of the Taegeukgi, there are four trigrams, Geon(乾), Ri(離), Gam(坎), Gon(坤), which respectively indicates heaven, fire, water and soil. Comprised of Taegeuk, Yang and Yin, and the four trigrams, Taegeukgi symbolizes the source that creates everything, and also the creation and changes that happen to everything.

We have memories of drawing Taegeukgi when we were elementary students; we may have been taught that it is too difficult to draw the flag. Compare with the national flag of Japan, Taegeukgi is more complicated. But Koreans’ racial spirit and our special emotion are expressed by Taegeukgi. As Koreans, we have to know the meaning of Taegeuk and its four trigrams. But some people don’t know which aspect (Yang or Yin) is the upper site. And even some sports stars sometimes make mistakes, they hold the Taegeukgo upside down. They might be criticized for their carelessness. (In order to avoid this confusion, we can easily remember just one thing: Yang is red and could be said to represent the sun, and Yin is blue and could represent the ocean. So, the sun is always the upper site, and the ocean is always the lower one!)

Finally, when is the right time to hoist a Taegeukgi? Korea designates the dates for flag raising on five holidays; March 3, July 17, August 15, October 3 and October 9; also, Armed Forces Day; October 1 to celebrate anniversaries. And we can also hoist a Taegeukgi to express condolences; for example, on June 1, a state funeral period and national funeral period. And when raising a flag to express condolences, we should hoist Taegeukgi lower than normal.

Lim Se-jin  yabbi0311@naver.com

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