Republic of Korea, 1949

The Taegeukgi flag was declared official by the government of South Korea on 15 October 1949 and with some minor adjustments has remained the flag ever since. The white background stands for the nation, light and purity, reflecting the Korean people's traditional affinity for peace; the circle stands for the people and the four trigrams for the government. The “Taeguk”, the yin and yang symbol, symbolises universal harmony and the four “gwae”, trigrams that surround it denote the process of yin and yang going through a series of changes and growth.