Pledge of Allegiance (South Korea)

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The South Korean flag, also known as the Taegeukgi (literally "Supreme ultimate flag").

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Korean Flag (Korean: 국기에 대한 맹세, 國旗에 對한 盟誓, lit. '"Vow about the great Korean flag"') is the pledge to the national flag of South Korea. The pledge is recited at flag ceremonies immediately before the South Korean national anthem.

History

The current pledge was introduced on July 27, 2007.[1] A previous pledge of allegiance was used from 1972 until 2007 and was introduced by then-president Park Chung-hee. Unlike the current pledge which pledges allegiance to the flag of South Korea, the 1972 pledge rather pledged allegiance to the "Korean race," also known as the minjok.[2][3][4][5][6]

In the mid-2000s, the pledging of allegiance to a "Korean race" (or "Korean ethnicity") was criticized by some people,[7] specifically for being racist and "not appropriate at a time when South Korea is becoming a multiracial and multicultural society."[8] This version of the pledge was discontinued in July 2007, during the presidency of Roh Moo-hyun,[9] and replaced with different wording. Some left-wing South Koreans condemned the rewording of the country's pledge of allegiance, as it went against their ideology.[10]

Similarly, until April 2011, the South Korean army's soldiers swore allegiance to the "Korean race" in their oaths of enlistment until that, too, was discontinued for similar reasons.[4]

Text of the pledge

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