Flags: South Korea
For designing a flag, the North American Vexillological Association recommends a booklet by Ted Kaye called, Good Flag, Bad Flag. Based on his criteria, the South Korea flag is excellent. The following analysis uses Ted Kaye booklet for that assessment and the assessment of other flags on this album page:
Keep It SimpleThe Armenia, Georgia, and Latvia flags are simple, but they’re unattractive because of their dark color choices. Kazakstan’s flag is attractive and seemingly simple with two colors and some trim, but try drawing it and you’ll see how simple it is not. The South Korea flag is seemingly simple, but has many elements or details to it. However, a Korean child who knows the flag well could precisely draw it.Use Meaningful SymbolismSouth Korea’s flag has plenty of symbolism. The white field is common to Asian flags; white represents peace and purity. The yin-yang symbols are the mythological symbol of fish swimming in unison and continously, like the spirit of the people. The four stacked looking boxes, or trigrams each mean multiple things in Korean: sky, earth, sun, and moon; and also, Summer, Winter, Spring, and Autumn; and also, North, South, East, and West; and also, wisdom, righteousness, courtesy, and intelligence; and also, father, mother, daughter, and son; and also, air, earth, fire, and water; and also, justice, vitality, fruition, and wisdom; and also the expressions, the strong stay together, the weak stay together, the strong protect the weak, and the weak protect the strong. It’s no wonder I found this flag to be the best on this page.Use a Few Basic ColorsLatvia and Kazakstan use only two colors. However, Latvia’s color choices are dingy or unappealing. And Kazakstan’s charges are too detailed – although it would be recognizable from afar, if you already know it. South Korea uses four colors, but uses them economically.No Lettering or SealsLiechtenstein disqualifies itself as a good flag with the inclusion of a crown, Nambia with the bursting sun, and Tajikistan with it’s crown crest. You could argue that the South Korea flag has several words on it, but since their written language is pictographical, they’re more symbols than words. The Japan flag’s red dot can be translated to rising sun, but it’s not a word.Be Distinctive or Be RelatedThe flag for the Republic of Korea (i.e., South Korea) is distinctive and related to o ther flags. The yin-yang symbol can be seen in other Asian flags (e.g., Mongolia), and the choice of red for one part of it, with it the pair so tightly together, looks similar to the red dot of the Japan flag – but not the same – with the same white field, though. The elements make them related and the organization make it distinct.
Note
These are flags of nations that were admitted to the U.N. in the years since the last time they printed country flag stamps in 1989. The Koreas and the Baltic states joined in that time, along with several former Soviet states after the end of the Soviet Union.
Contains 8 spots: own 8 – 8 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jun 12, 2025
Stamp Details
The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Flag Series
✓ |
692 |
32c (feb 1997) |
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✓ |
691 |
32c (feb 1997) |
|||
✓ |
696 |
32c (feb 1997) |
|||
✓ |
695 |
32c (feb 1997) |
|||
✓ |
697 |
32c (feb 1997) |
|||
✓ |
694 |
32c (feb 1997) |
|||
✓ |
693 |
32c (feb 1997) |
|||
✓ |
690 |
32c (feb 1997) |
Footnotes
Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.
No Covers Found.