Military to introduce uniforms with national flag from August

Korean national flag Taegeukgi is to be attached to uniforms of all military soldiers from August. The Ministry of National Defense has sought to introduce the Korean national flag to military uniforms to raise patriotism and pride of the military since earlier this year, which marks the 65th anniversary of the Korean War and the 70th anniversary of Independence from Japanese colonial rule.

The defense ministry said on Thursday, “Taegeukgi patches and Velcro tapes to be attached to military uniforms will be provided between August and September.” Given the tasks and type of duties, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps will decide individual timeline to attach the national flag patch to the uniform.

Across all the military forces, the ministry decided to put the national flag on top of the right shoulder of military uniforms. The size of Taegeukgi is 8 centimeters in width and 5.3 centimeters in length with 3-to-2 ratio applied as required by the Ordinance Act of the Law concerning the National Flag of the Republic of Korea. The Stars and Stripes in the similar size is attached to the similar location of uniforms of the U.S. armed forces. A defense ministry official said, “Marine Corps, which have the national flag on the left shoulder of its uniform, will be allowed to wear two types of uniforms until the end of this year, but their uniforms will be unified into the one with Taegeukgi attached on the right shoulder from next year.

Soldiers will receive a general and a camouflage Taegeukgi patches respectively. Soldiers must attach the general on during the normal times and the camouflage one during the combat or military drill period.

The ministry plans to spend budget of 3.7 billion won (approx. USD 3.33 million) in the first year to introduce the national flag to the military uniforms. From the next year, the cost to attach Taegeukgi to uniforms of newly conscripted soldiers is estimated around 800 million won (719,877 dollars).

neone@donga.com