Flag of North Korea

The flag of North Korea, also known as the Ramhongsaek Konghwagukgi is the ensign and national flag of North Korea. It was adopted on 8 September 1948 and is defined in Article 170 of Chapter VII of the North Korean constitution.
==Design==
According to article 170 of Chapter VII of the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea):
===Symbolism===
The North Korean flag's prominent red star is a universal symbol of communism and socialism, although since the flag's adoption, the application of the Marxist-Leninist-natured philosophy of Juche has replaced communist authority as the state's guiding ideology, and references to communism have been systematically removed from the country's constitution and legal documents.
The red stripe expresses revolutionary traditions. The two blue stripes stand for sovereignty, peace and friendship. The white stripes symbolize purity. 
The website of the Korean Friendship Association indicates, on the contrary, the red star represents revolutionary traditions, the red panel is indicative of the patriotism and determination of the Korean people. The white stripes symbolizes ethnic purity of the unified nation and its culture. The blue stripes represent unity. 
According to a typical North Korean official text published in Rodong Sinmun, Kim Il-sung gave the following significance to the elements of the flag:
The colors of the North Korean flag – red, white and blue – are considered national colors and symbolize respectively: revolutionary traditions; purity, strength, and dignity; and sovereignty, peace, and friendship.
==History==
When the northern portion of Korea became a socialist republic supported by the Soviet Union following the restoration of independence of Korea in 1945, the Taegukgi was once again in use.
Vice Chairman of the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea Kim Tu-bong was in favor of keeping the Taegukgi, but in 1947 the Soviets communicated via Major General their wish to have the flag changed. The old flag with its traditional Korean elements, he noted, "sounds like a legend to me". Kim yielded and a few months later the design for the new flag was dictated from Moscow, although it is not known who the Soviet official was that designed the flag. Before its formal adoption, the Taegukgi remained in official use.North Korea: A Guide to Economic and Political Developments By Ian Jeffries
The design of the flag was disclosed, along with a draft constitution, on 1 May 1948. On 10 July 1948 the new flag was approved by the provisional North Korean People's Assembly. The following month Kim, who formerly supported the traditional design, wrote a reasoned text On the Establishing of the New National Flag and the Abolition of Taegukgi. Thereby he explained the decision to adopt a new flag against the wishes of those who favored the old one In terms of North Korean official texts, Kim's account is unequivocally frank in acknowledging dissenting public opinion. In 1957, Kim Tu-bong was purged by Kim Il-sung who by that time had erected a cult of personality. Any mention of the use of Taegukgi was removed from texts and it was doctored out of photographs on the orders of Kim Il-sung who sought to monopolize North Korean history to serve him. Contemporary official North Korean accounts present the new flag of North Korea as personally designed by Kim Il-sung.
A North Korean national flag flies from the world's fourth tallest flagpole, which is located at Kijŏng-dong, on the North Korean side of the Military Demarcation Line within the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The flag-pole is tall.
==Historical and other flags==
There are several other known flags in use. There are flags for the Korean People's Army (KPA), and its two subdivisions the Korean People's Air Force and Korean People's Navy, which follow a common design but with different colors (blue and white for the Navy and dark blue and light blue for the Air Force). There is also a flag of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea, modeled after similar communist party flags, and a flag for the Supreme Commander of the KPA used by Kim Jong-un, which has the Supreme Commander's Arms on a red field. KPA Guards units use the same common design but with the national arms at the center of the obverse.
File:Workers' Party of Korea Flag Vertical Display.gif|Proper vertical display of the WPK flag
Image:Flag of the king of Joseon.svg||Taegukgi of the Joseon dynasty, King Jeongjo (ca. 1800)
Image:Flag of Korea 1882.svg|Taegukgi by Park Yeong-hyo (September 1882)
Image:Flag of Korea (1882-1910).svg|Taegukgi (November 1882)
Image:Flag of Korea (1893).svg|Taegukgi (1910)
Image:Korean flag 1944 United States stamp detail.jpg|Older version of the Taegukgi on a U.S. postage stamp (1944)
Flag of the Soviet Union (1923-1955).svg|Flag of North Korea during Soviet occupation of Northern Korea (October 1945-September 1948)
File:Provisional_People%27s_Committee_for_North_Korea_flag.svg|Flag of the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea (February 1946-July 1948)
File:Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea.svg|Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea
File:Standard of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army -vector21.svg|Standard of the Supreme Commander
File:Flag of the Korean People's Army -v.svg|Korean People's Army
File:Flag of the Korean People's Army Ground Force.svg|Korean People's Army Ground Force
File:Flag of the Korean People's Navy.svg|Korean People's Navy
File:Guards Ensign of North Korea -vector.svg|Guards Ensign
File:Naval Ensign of North Korea -vector.svg|Naval Ensign
File:NKAF flag.svg|Korean People's Air Force
File:Unification flag of Korea.svg|Unification Flag of North and South Korea
File:North Korea-Pyongyang-Arirang Mass Games-03.jpg|Arirang Mass Games
File:Photograph of flags of North Korea.jpg|A series of North Korean flags
==See also==
*List of North Korean flags
*Korean Unification Flag
*Flag of South Korea
==References==
== External links ==
*
North Korea
Category:National symbols of North Korea
Korea, North
North Korea
North