Flag of South Korea

What does the flag of South Korea mean?

The central symbol represents the balance of the universe; the red half represents positive cosmic forces, and the blue half represents the opposing negative cosmic forces. The four trigrams together represent movement and harmony, each symbolising one of the four classical elements.

Colours and what they stand for

• White

  Purity and peace

• Red

  Positive cosmic forces

• Blue

  Negative cosmic forces

• Black

  The four classical elements

History

The 'Taegeukgi' was adopted in 1883 for the Korean Empire. The trigrams were standardised in 1949, though other minor details were not finalised until 1997.