Tae-Guk
If you hear music, it is the South Korean National Anthem

Many Taekwondo students wear the South Korean national flag (Tae-Guk) on their uniforms, see the flag in the dojang, and even bow in respect to the flag during training, without knowing about its background.

The Korean peninsula is divided into two nations, North Korea and South Korea, and each country has its own flag. The North Korean flag, created in 1948, consists of three stripes( blue, red, and blue) separated from each other by two narrow white lines. The hoist of the red stripe is charged with a white disc containing a red five-pointed star. The blue stripes stand for the people's desire for peace, the red one symbolizes the revolutionary spirit of the struggle for socialism, and the white one represents the purity of the ideals of North Korea and national sovereignty. The five-pointed star signifies the happy prospects of the people building socialism under the leadership of the Korean Worker's Party (communism).

The history of the South Korean flag is as follows:

Origin of Flag

The Korean name for Korea is "Hangeuk" and its people are called "Hangeuksaram." The ancient name for Korea is "Choson," which means "the land of morning calm" and comes from the Choson (or Joseon ) Dynasty (1392-1905). The name "Korea" comes from the Koryo Dynasty (935-1392), during which westerners had their first contact with Korea.

By the end of the 19th century, Korea was under the influence of colonists such the Japanese, Chinese, and Russians, and it needed its own flag. Korea first felt the need for a national flag as it was preparing to conclude the Korean-American Treaty of Commerce, which was concluded on May 22 and signed on June 6, 1882. This was during the 19th year of the reign of King Go-jong of the Chosen Kingdom (1392-1910). Though China had been pressing Korea to use a dragon design on its national flag, Korea rejected this in favor of a blue and red Yin-Yang on a white field, a favorite Korean design since ancient times. Thus, the taegeuk design flag became the temporary national flag. Later Korea added eight trigrams combinations of three unbroken and broken bars around the taegeuk circle, creating the Taegeukgi, which served as the national colors for a while. According an article published on October 2, 1882 in the Tokyo daily newspaper, Emperor Go-jong designed the original flag.

King Go-jong appointed Bak Yeoung-hyo as his ambassador to Japan in September 1882. The Emperor then ordered Bak to use the flag on his trip to Japan. Bak used the flag again in 1887 on a trip to the United States. While aboard ship heading for Japan, Bak drew a national flag with a taegeuk circle but included only four trigrams instead of eight, and started using the flag on the 25th of that month. On October 3, Bak reported this change to King Go-jong who formally proclaimed the Taegeukgi as the national flag on March 6, 1883. For some unknown reason, however, he did not have formal instructions published at that time on how to make the flag. In fact, it was not till June 29, 1942, that the provisional Korean government in exile enacted a law on the uniform method of making the national flag. The law was promulgated but as the government was in exile, it was not widely known to Koreans at home still under Japanese colonial rule.

The flag has been a source of pride and inspiration for Koreans as symbol of their struggle for independence and freedom. During the Japanese occupation, 1910-1945, the Japanese outlawed the flag in public places but the people kept it hidden until Liberation Day. Following the founding of the Republic of Korea on August 15, 1948, the government felt that it should codify the method of making the national flag. This prompted the government to form a special commission in January 1949 that issued the provision on the national flag on October 15 of that year. Since then, the Republic of Korea has been using the Taegeukgi as the national flag.

Eum-Yang

Objects depicted on the flag symbolize much of the thought and mysticism of oriental philosophy. The circle depicted on the flag, the eum-yang (shown on left), is divided equally and is in perfect balance. Its origin is based on the oriental philosophy of eum-yang (known in China as Yin-Yang). It was originally thought that this philosophy was developed in China by Chou Fung-i (1016-1073 AD), a metaphysical philosopher of the Sun Dynasty, who published his theory of tai-chi in 1070 AD and supposedly designed the tai-chi (Yin-Yang) symbol. However, a piece of stone with the eum-yang (Yin-Yang) symbol carved on it was discovered at the site of the Korean Buddhist temple Kam-Eun, which was built in 682 AD. This is the oldest known use of the eum-yang symbol. This discovery indicates that the symbol was in use in Korea as early as 682 AD, well before Chou Fung-i was born.

Oldest Eum-Yang

The eum-yang symbol expresses the dualism of the universe, the perfect harmony and balance among opposites, and the constant movement within the sphere of infinity. An example of dualism may be expressed in the upbringing of a child. There are two opposing methods to raise a child: praise or punishment. Praise is considered good and punishment is considered bad, but both are needed for a proper upbringing. However, too much of either may cause behavior problems with the child. There must be balance and harmony between the two extremes to ensure the child is brought up properly.

Eum (blue portion of the symbol) means dark, cold,  or negative, while yang (red portion of the symbol) means bright, hot, or positive. A very old Chinese book called Choo-Yuk claims that all objects, through the movement of yin (eum) and yang, express events by their dualism. For example, the moon is eum, the sun is yang; the earth is eum, the sky is yang; night is eum, the day is yang; and the winter is eum, the summer is yang. Eum and yang are relative. Therefore, "A" can be eum with respect to "B" while being yang with respect to "C." For example, the spring is eum to the summer yang while also being yang to the winter eum. Eum and yang compliment each other. Neither exists of itself alone, they must exist together. To appreciate beauty, you must have ugliness.  What benefit is good (yang) if evil (eum) does not exist?

Lao Tsu (known No Ja in Korea), a famous Chinese philosopher who founded Taoism, wrote a chapter on dualism in his book Tao Te Ching. The following is a summary of the chapter:

Under heaven all may see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness.
All may know good as good only because there is evil.
Therefore having and not having arise together.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short contrast each other.
Front and back follow one another.
Therefore, the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no talking.
The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease,
Creating, not possessing,
Working, yet not taking credit.
Work is done, then forgotten,
Therefore it lasts forever!

When looking at the two comma-shaped sections "ukwdrops" in the eum-yang symbol, the thicker part of a section indicates the beginning and the slender part indicates the end. The eum begins where the yang gradually vanishes and vice versa. The red section is always on the top half of the circle.

The harmonious state of the movement of eum-yang is called tae-guk in Korean (tai- chi in Chinese). In Korea, the flag itself, is called Tae-Guk (the origin of all things in the universe) or Tae-Guk-Ki ( ki means flag). Tae-Guk is also known as the flag of "great extremes."