Exhibit highlights the rich, dramatic history of Korea's national flag

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Exhibit highlights the rich, dramatic history of Korea's national flag

Published: 14 Aug. 2025, 20:15 Updated: 15 Aug. 2025, 13:28

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A Taegeukgi or Korean national flag secretly kept after Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREAN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY]

From battlefields and prison cells to Himalayan peaks and the streets of Gwangju, the Taegeukgi, or Korean national flag, has flown through some of the country's most defining moments.

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in central Seoul brings together 210 of these flags — including the one that draped the coffin of student activist Park Gwan-hyeon during the 1980 Gwangju Uprising — to tell the story of a symbol that has come to embody justice, freedom and unity.

In her novel "Human Acts" (2014), Nobel Prize in literature laureate Han Kang depicts the Gwangju Uprising — a pro-democracy protest in May 1980 that the military violently suppressed, leaving hundreds dead or injured — through the eyes of a boy collecting the bodies of victims at the South Jeolla Provincial Office.

“Why wrap the coffins in the national flag?” he asks. “As if the country had not killed them.”

Such an act would be unthinkable if the Taegeukgi were viewed only as a symbol of central government or state power. Wrapping victims’ coffins in the flag suggests it has long been embraced as a marker of justice, freedom and democracy beyond national identity.

That sentiment is woven into the “Park Gwan-hyeon Taegeukgi,” now on display at the museum. Park, president of the Chonnam National University student council during the 1980 movement, died in 1982 after a hunger strike in prison. The flag that covered his coffin was found in 1997 during his reburial. It is one of 18 Taegeukgi featured in the exhibition “Our Shared Journey with the Taegeukgi,” marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945).

The show spans more than a century of history, from a reproduction of the oldest known flag — the “Denny Taegeukgi” (1891) — to the sea of flags waved during the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

A Taegeukgi or Korean national flag used during the March 1 Independence Movement [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREAN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY]

The Taegeukgi was first proclaimed as Korea’s national flag on Jan. 27, 1883, during the reign of King Gojong of Joseon (1864–1907). Designed as a symbol of an independent state at a time when Korea was signing trade treaties with the Qing Dynasty, Japan and Western nations, its design of a red-and-blue yin-yang at the center of a white field with four black trigrams in the corners has endured, though with slight variations until the government issued the National Flag Construction Guidelines in 1949.

One rare early example is the Taegeukgi from the 1900 Paris Exposition, now held by the Guimet Museum in France. Measuring 97 centimeters (38 inches) by 102 centimeters, it features blue trigrams painted on white cotton. Korea had first joined the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and participated in Paris as the Korean Empire. An illustration in the French weekly Le Petit Journal shows the flag flying high over the Korean pavilion.

“After lengthy negotiations with the museum, we are presenting it in Korea for the first time in 125 years,” said Kim Hyun-jung, the museum’s head of exhibition operations.

The first section of the exhibition focuses on flags that endured hardship during the Japanese occupation. The “Gwangjeho Taegeukgi” flew on the modern naval vessel Gwangjeho, built in 1904, until Aug. 28, 1910, the day before Japan’s annexation of Korea. Its captain, Shin Soon-sung (1878–1944), secretly took it down and hid it.

“At my grandfather’s request, my grandmother dried it in the sun once a year,” said his grandson Shin Yong-seok. “Thinking about her anxiety over those 35 years brings tears to my eyes.”

Others hid flags in more improvised ways. The Taegeukgi that once hung at Dongduk Girls’ High School, founded in 1908, was boxed up and stored under a wardrobe and a jar platform after the March 1 Independence Movement in 1919.

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History has opened a special exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation titled “Our Shared Journey with the Taegeukgi.” On display is the Taegeukgi or Korean national flag from Dongduk Girls’ High School. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREAN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY]

The “Seoul Jingwansa Taegeukgi,” designated a treasure, was found in 2009 wrapped in cloth deep inside the altar of Jingwan Temple’s Chilseonggak shrine. In 1996, the “Baegyangsa Taegeukgi” was discovered in a Buddhist painting storage chest at Baegyang Temple in Jangseong County, South Jeolla. It is believed to have belonged to Ven. Manam (1876–1957), the first head of the Jogye Order, who carried on anti-Japanese education during the occupation.

Also on display are three flags that once flew over the Provisional National Assembly in Shanghai, the legislative body of Korea’s Provisional Government. Independence activist Kim Bong-jun (1888–1950), who chaired the assembly, and his wife Roh Young-jae sewed them by hand.

After liberation, the Taegeukgi served as a rallying point for unity. The “Muun Janggu Taegeukgi,” signed by soldiers departing for the Korean War (1950–1953), bears a palm print reminiscent of independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun. Other flags on view include one planted on the summit of Mount Makalu during a 1982 Himalayan expedition and another flown at the base camp by Korea’s first Antarctic research team in 1985.

“We hope sharing the memories embedded in the Taegeukgi will remind people of the strength and potential we hold,” said Han Soo, the museum’s director.

The exhibition runs through Nov. 16 and is free to the public.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KANG HYE-RAN [[email protected]]