Stenzel's World Champion TaeKwonDo/Hapkido Institute.

The Korean Flag & Its Meaning
The Korean name for Korea is "Hangeuk" and its people are called "Hangeuksaram." The ancient name for Korea is "Choson," which means literally, "the land of morning calm" and comes from the "Choson" (or "Yi") dynasty of Korea's history (1392 - 1905) during which westerners had their first contact with Korea. The national anthem of Korea is "Aeguk Ka" ("Love of Country"). It was written during the Japanese occupation of Korea (circa 1905 - 1945) and was later set to music by Ahn Eak Tai.

"The Korean flag is called Taeguk-ki" and was adopted in August of 1882.

not long after the "Hermit Kingdom" opened its front and back doors to foreign aggressive powers. The central theme of the flag is that although there is constant movement within the sphere of infinity, there is also balance and harmony. The flag consists of three parts: a white field (or background), a red and blue circle in the center of the flag (containing a "yin-yang" like symbol) and four black trigrams surrounding the circle in each of the four corners of the flag.

    The circle in the center is called "Taeguk" and means the origin of all things in the universe. The red and blue paisleys within the circle represent eternal duality (heaven-earth, fire-water, good-evil, male-female, dark-light, life-death). The blue portion of the circle is called "Um" and presents the negative aspects of this duality; the red portion of the circle is called "Yang" and represents the positive aspects. "Um-Yang" is the Korean equivalent of "Yin-Yang."


The four black trigrams come from the Chinese book of "I Ch'ing." The trigrams also carry the idea of opposites and of balance. Each trigram (or "gye") consists of three parallel lines, some of which are broke (split), and some of which are unbroken (solid). Each gye has a specific name and represents one or more concept.

    In the upper lefthand corner is "K'un" which consists of all solid lines and represents heaven, east and spring.

;  In the lower righthand corner is "K'on" which consists of all broken lines and represents earth, west and summer.

   In the upper righthand corner is "Kam" which consists of one solid line surrounded by two broken lines and represents water, north and winter.

   Finally in the lower lefthand corner is "I" which consists of one broken line surrounded by two solid   lines and represents fire, south and autumn. [ View Products ] [Contact Us ] [ Home ][Korean Flag Meaning] [Etiquette] [Class Schedule ][Common Terms][Master Stenzel]