Flag of South Chungcheong

The flag of South Chungcheong (Chungnam), the province on the western coast of Korea, is white and bears a tree of fifteen leaves in five colours. The design dates from 2012 and, despite its childlike look, every detail is deliberate: even the grey trunk has an official meaning.

How it came about

On 5 November 2012 the province adopted a new emblem, based on the great tree of the Korean village: the place where neighbours met, shared and rested. The leaves come out of a speech bubble, and their total —fifteen —is also the number of municipalities of Chungnam. It is the third symbol of its own the province has had in fifty years.

How it has changed

The flag of Chungnam has changed three times: in 1962, 1998 and 2012.

1. 

   1962-1998

   Vertical yellow, white and green stripes, with a blue emblem: the consonants of the name turned into a bird taking off. The yellow was a promise of abundance and the green a nod to the agricultural and reforestation campaigns of the time.

2. 

   1998-2012

   On white, a green arch, two blue waves and a red dot: the letters of the Korean name and of the English one (C and n) translated into a landscape of rivers, mountains and sea, with a red circle of human warmth and the future.

3. 

   2012

   The tree of fifteen leaves replaces the abstract landscape. The name appears in Korean and English under the drawing.

What it means

The whole 2012 emblem has an official explanation:

• Tree

  the wish of a happy province and a shared world.

• Fifteen leaves

  the fifteen municipalities, spread across five colours that add up to honesty and trust (blue), life (green), energy (orange), generosity (red) and nobility (purple).

• Grey trunk

  the promise of listening to everyone equally, without taking sides.

• White ground

  the simplicity of the “descendants of the white village” and their endeavour to create something out of nothing.

Fun facts

1. The leaves are speech bubbles

   Each leaf of the tree comes out of a comic speech bubble, the symbol of communication between neighbours, according to the province’s official explanation.

2. A flag of three stripes

   The first flag of Chungnam, of 1962, did not have an entirely white ground: it was a vertical tricolour of yellow, white and green in a ratio of 1 to 2 to 1.

Location