At One Place

The flag of North Korea

The flag of North Korea
A wide red band across the centre edged in white, with blue bands above and below, and a red five-pointed star inside a white disc toward the hoist.
Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1948

North and South Korea used the same Taegukgi until 1948, when the North replaced it with this design — the two flags are among the very few pairs where a shared symbol was deliberately abandoned by one side. The star is set toward the hoist rather than centred. Both Koreas competed at several international events under a unification flag showing a blue Korean peninsula on white, most recently in 2018. This entry describes the flag and does not address political questions.

What the colours mean

  • Red #ED1C27 Revolutionary tradition
  • White #FFFFFF Purity, and a traditional Korean colour
  • Blue #024FA2 Sovereignty, peace and friendship

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What What it stands for
Red star in a white disc Revolution
Ratio
1:2
Current design adopted
1948
Colours
red, white, blue

Common questions

What does the flag of North Korea look like?
A wide red band across the centre edged in white, with blue bands above and below, and a red five-pointed star inside a white disc toward the hoist.
What do the colours of the North Korea flag mean?
Red: revolutionary tradition. White: purity, and a traditional Korean colour. Blue: sovereignty, peace and friendship.
When was the North Korea flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1948, and its official ratio is 1:2.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked