The white background of the South Korean flag represents peace and purity. In the center is the taegeuk, which is also commonly referred to as the Ying Yang symbol, representing the belief that all things have two opposite aspects that cannot exist without each other.
Four groups of three long and short black bars called kwae surround the circle and represent heaven (three unbroken bars), the Earth (three broken bars), water (one unbroken line between two broken bars) and fire (one broken bar between two unbroken bars). The kwae trigrams are placed in such a way that they balance one another, heaven is placed opposite Earth, and fire is placed opposite water.
The National Emblem of South Korea consists of the taegeuk surrounded by five stylized petals and a ribbon bearing the inscription, "The Republic of Korea." The taegeuk represents peace and harmony.
The five petals all have meaning and are related to Korea's national flower, the hybiscus syriacus, also known as the Rose of Sharon. The Rose of Sharon is called mugunghwa in Korean. It's symbolic significance stems from the Korean word mugung, which means eternity. This flower is thought to have been chosen because at the battle of Noryan (1598) which marked the end of a seven year war against the Japanese, such a flower was on the canopy of the ship's commander's seat.