Waving Korean flag, Taegeukki

By Choe Chong-dae

I am disheartened to learn that a growing number of people are inclined to make light of the Korean national flag.

Every nation has a unique and distinctive national flag that is a focus and expression of its patriotism. As for Koreans, the significance of their national flag “Taegeukki” is very strong because of modern Korean history. During the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945), the Taegeukki played an important role as a symbol of resistance and independence against colonial rule.

It has been a key feature in mass rallies throughout Korea. Whenever faced with hardship, Koreans regain hope, energy, and courage miraculously, and overcame difficulties, through waving the Taegeukki.

The Korean flag features a symbol of the cosmos that represents peace, unity, creation, hope, harmony and equality, the basic concept of “yin-yang” has its origin in Chinese philosophy. While “yin” symbolizes Earth, femininity and negative power, “yang” symbolizes Heaven, masculinity and positive power. Thus, it is believed that yin and yang are opposites and seemingly in tension with each other, yet simultaneously, they cooperate in harmony according to traditional Asian philosophy.

The Taegeukki was designed by Park Yeong-hyo, a Korean envoy to Japan during the reign of King Gojong of the Joseon Kingdom in 1882. It was officially adopted as the Korean national flag the following year and remained as Korea’s distinctive representative symbol until today.

During a recent visit to the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington State, U.S., I discovered that the Northern Pacific Railway also used the yin-yang symbol in the center of the Korean flag as their trademark.

While I was very inspired by the history of the American railway, including the trains used during the Civil War, I was most impressed by the Northern Pacific boxcar with the distinctive Taekeuk symbol emblazoned on it.

According to historical records including the Spokane Daily Chronicle issued on May 18, 1950, Mr. E. H. McHenry, Northern Pacific's Chief Engineer, visited the Korean pavilion at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. He was moved by the Korean flag and its simple yet striking design.

The North Pacific Railway was searching for a suitable trademark and he conveniently adopted the design of the flag as the company’s logo. Since then, the Taegeuk has been a symbol of good fortune for passengers in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

It has been 120 years since the Northern Pacific adopted this logo. Even though the company no longer exists because it merged with other lines to form the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1970, the prominent yin-yang symbol still appears in some places. It is on the railway passenger car display, “Green River”, Northern Pacific, at the 7th Street Station, Vancouver City in Washington State, and on the top of the former Northern Pacific Train Depot in Bismarck, North Dakota, that was built in 1900.

It is now the Fiesta Villa Mexican Restaurant. The ticket window, located in the Camp 6 Logging Museum at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington was originally used at Union Station in downtown Tacoma.

Inspired by North Pacific’s creative borrowing of the Korean flag 120 years ago, we should strive to promote the Taegeukki as a valuable element of “Brand Korea” to enhance the global recognition of Korean identity.

Choe Chong-dae is a guest columnist of The Korea Times and president of Dae-kwang International Co., as well as a director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at dkic98@chol.com.