Incheon pulls Liberation Day banner over 'upside down' Taegeukgi
The city took down a Liberation Day banner after criticism that its Taegeukgi looked distorted, despite officials saying the image was distorted by perspective.
Incheon city's banner to celebrate Korea's 81st Liberation Day from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule
YONHAP
The Incheon Metropolitan City Government removed a banner displayed near the rear entrance of City Hall ahead of Aug. 15 Liberation Day after the national flag depicted on it appeared distorted, the local authority said Sunday.
The banner commemorating the 81st anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule was installed near a crosswalk by the rear entrance of City Hall on Thursday.
The banner featured the phrase “The 81st Liberation Day, the day we regained the light” (translated), alongside an image of an independence activist holding up and waving the Taegeukgi, the Korean national flag.
Criticism soon emerged online over the apparent distortion of the flag.
“The Taegeuk in the banner is drawn upside down,” online posts wrote. The Taegeuk is a circular symbol representing blue-colored yin and red-colored yang. The red portion is supposed to appear above the blue. However, the flag on the banner in question portrayed the blue portion above the red.
Kim Hee-chul of K-pop group Super Junior also posted a screen capture of the banner on social media and used an expletive to criticize the apparent misrepresentation of the Taegeukgi.
The city said the controversy stemmed from a misunderstanding. It explained that the flag had not been depicted incorrectly, but appeared distorted because the illustration showed the independence activist waving the flag from a low-angle perspective.
Still, the city concluded that the image could invite misunderstanding and removed the banner on Saturday.
“We failed to pay close enough attention to how the image could appear when viewed in two dimensions,” an Incheon city official told Yonhap News Agency. “Going forward, we will review such materials more carefully to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings.”
BY KIM EUN-BIN [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
