해방 직후 신국가 건설과 국기 제정

Building a New Nation and the Establishment of the National Flag after the Liberation of Korea

This study examined the period from right after the Korean Liberation to the advent of the Republic of Korea through Taegeukgi, the national flag. Taegeukgi had a meaning as the national symbol during the Japanese colonial period before the Korean Liberation. And after the Liberation, Taegeukgi kept being used as the national symbol by both parties of the Left and Right Wing even when they were in intense conflict. But, the meaning of the national symbol did not imply that it would be the symbol of the new nation to come after the Liberation. The intellectuals in the South Korea disputed if Taegeukgi would be appropriate as the national symbol of the new country to come just after the Liberation. In the process, there was a criticism that Taegeukgi would not symbolize the new ‘scientific and modern’ age. That led to the idea that Taegeukgi would not be suitable for the new age because of its old and outdated meanings. The discussion of Taegeukgi right after the Liberation had influence on the process to adopt Taegeukgi as the national flag of the Republic of Korea. The establishment of the National flag of Korea was progressed by the National Flag Establishment Commission under the control of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education inaugurated the National Flag Establishment Commission (NFEC) under the special command of Lee Seung-man in January 1949. NFEC decided Taegeukgi as the national flag at its first discussion, and changed the word, ‘Establishment’ in its name to ‘Rectification’. Since then, NFRC discussed a single ‘unitary’ Taegeukgi of five Taegeukgi designs. As a result, the ‘unitary’ Taegeukgi design called ‘Urikukgiboyanghweian’ was finally adopted after changing the decision twice, which shows that the adoption of the unitary Taegeukgi was not easy to finalize as the national flag of the Republic of Korea. As above mentioned, this study reviewed the process that the symbolic meaning of Taegeukgi met changes and conflict after the Korean Liberation. It would be useful to trace the discussion of the national symbol right after the Liberation for the review of the national image of the new country aimed right after the Liberation.