Flag of North Korea

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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

 File:Vertical Flag of North Korea.svg
According to article 170 of Chapter VII of the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea):

> The national flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea consists of a central red panel, bordered both above and below by a narrow white stripe and a broad blue stripe. The central red panel bears a five-pointed red star within a white circle near the hoist.
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> The ratio of the width to the length is 1:2.
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### Symbolism

 File:Flag of North Korea (Construction sheet).svg
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.[*Citation needed*]

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 red colour of the flag symbolises the anti-Japanese fervour, the red blood shed by the Korean patriots and the invincible might of our people firmly united to support the Republic. The white colour symbolises the one bloodline, one land, one language, one culture of our monoethnic country, which lived in purity. And blue stands for the gallant visage of our people, symbolising the spirit of the Korean people fighting for world peace and progress.
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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

 File:Foundation ceremony of the Korean People's Army.jpg
 File:Gijeong-ri Flag.jpg
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 Nikolai Georgiyevich Lebedev (ru) 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.

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 270-kilogram (600 lb) 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 160 meters (520 feet) tall.[*Citation needed*]

## 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.[*Citation needed*]

Workers' Party of Korea Flag Vertical Display.gifProper vertical display of the WPK flagFlag of the king of Joseon.svgTaegukgi of the Joseon dynasty, King Jeongjo (ca. 1800)Flag of Korea 1882.svgFile:FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi by Park Yeong-hyo (September 1882)Flag of Korea (1882-1910).svgFile:FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi (November 1882)Flag of Korea (1893).svgFile:FIAV historical.svgTaegukgi (1910)Korean flag 1944 United States stamp detail.jpgFile:FIAV historical.svgOlder version of the Taegukgi on a U.S. postage stamp (1944)Flag of the Soviet Union (1923-1955).svgFlag of North Korea during Soviet occupation of Northern Korea (October 1945-September 1948)Provisional People's Committee for North Korea flag.svgFlag of the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea (February 1946-July 1948)Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea.svgFlag of the Workers' Party of KoreaStandard of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army -vector21.svgStandard of the Supreme CommanderFlag of the Korean People's Army -v.svgKorean People's ArmyFlag of the Korean People's Army Ground Force.svgKorean People's Army Ground ForceFlag of the Korean People's Navy.svgKorean People's NavyGuards Ensign of North Korea -vector.svgGuards EnsignNaval Ensign of North Korea -vector.svgNaval EnsignNKAF flag.svgKorean People's Air ForceUnification flag of Korea.svgUnification Flag of North and South KoreaNorth Korea-Pyongyang-Arirang Mass Games-03.jpgArirang Mass GamesPhotograph of flags of North Korea.jpgA series of North Korean flags
## See also

* File:Flag of North Korea.svgNorth Korea portal
* File:Azure, a bend Or.svgHeraldry portal

* List of North Korean flags
* Korean Unification Flag
* Flag of South Korea

## References

1. ↑ North Korea. *flagspot.net*. Retrieved on 2016-08-10.
2. ↑ "Chapter VII, Article 170". *Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea* (PDF). Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. 2014. p. 35. ISBN 978-9946-0-1099-1 Amended and supplemented on April 1, Juche 102 (2013), at the Seventh Session of the Twelfth Supreme People's Assembly.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 North Korean Flag. *web.archive.org*. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved on 2016-08-10.
4. ↑ DPRK has quietly amended its Constitution. *Leonid Petrov's KOREA VISION*. Retrieved on 2016-08-10.
5. ↑ Flag and emblem. Retrieved on 31 March 2013.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Tertitskiy, Fyodor (20 June 2014). Kim Tu Bong and the Flag of Great Extremes. *Daily NK*. Retrieved on 10 August 2016.
7. ↑ Korea, North. *The World Factbook*. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on 22 September 2015.
8. ↑ North Korea: A Guide to Economic and Political Developments By Ian Jeffries
9. ↑ Pringsheim, Klaus H. (1967). "North Korea Under the Hammer and Sickle: A Non-Marxist view". In Shaffer, Harry G. *The Communist World: Marxist and Non-Marxist Views*. New York: Ardent Media. p. 439. OCLC 228608.

## External links

* North Korea at Flags of the World