Asia

Flag of North Korea

North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) occupies the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and operates as one of the world's most isolated and secretive states, governed by a single family dynasty — the Kim family — since its founding. The country declared itself a nuclear weapons state in 2005 and maintains one of the world's largest standing armies. Despite its isolation, North Korea has ancient Buddhist temples, the Paektu Mountain crater lake, and a highly developed domestic cultural tradition.

CapitalPyongyang
RegionAsia
Current flag since1948
Main coloursRed, Blue, White
Populationabout 26 million
Areaabout 121,000 km²
Flags in history3

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of North Korea means

The red stripe represents the revolutionary traditions and patriotism, the blue stripes the desire for peace and unity, and the white the purity of the nation. The red star in a white disc represents socialism. The flag replaced the Taegukgi in 1948, when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed.

How to recognise it

Horizontal blue-red-blue with white borders, and a white circle with a red star on the red stripe.

Did you know?

North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war — only an armistice, not a peace treaty, was signed in 1953.

Easily confused with

North Korea's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

South Korea

Flag history of North Korea

Every flag that has flown over North Korea, from today back through time.

1948–present

DPRK red-star flag

Adopted in 1948, replacing the Taegukgi: a broad red band edged with white and blue stripes, with a red star in a white disc near the hoist.

1945–1948

Taegukgi (shared Korean flag)

Before partition, the whole peninsula used the Taegukgi — white field, red-and-blue taegeuk, four black trigrams. The North flew it again after liberation in 1945 until 1948, when it broke from the South's design and adopted the red-star flag.

1910–1945

Japanese occupation

Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and ruled the whole peninsula for 35 years under its own flag, banning the Taegukgi and suppressing Korean language and identity in a harsh colonial regime. Liberation came in 1945 with Japan's WWII defeat — immediately followed by the Soviet-American division of the peninsula that hardened into North and South.