1.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
2.
South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
3.
Red star
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A red star, five-pointed and filled, is an important symbol often associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with hammer and sickle. It has been used in flags, state emblems, monuments, ornaments. The five-pointed red star has served since about 1917 as a symbol of communism. One interpretation sees the five points as representing the five fingers of the workers hand, a red star became one of the emblems, symbols and signals representing the Soviet Union under the rule of the Communist Party, along with, for example, the hammer and sickle. In Soviet heraldry, the red star symbolized the Red Army and the service, as opposed to the hammer and sickle. It is most often thought that Russian troops fleeing from the Austrian and German fronts found themselves in Moscow in 1917, to distinguish the Moscow troops from the influx of retreating front-liners, officers gave out tin stars to the Moscow garrison soldiers to wear on their hats. When those troops joined the Red Army and the Bolsheviks they painted their tin stars red, another claimed origin for the red star relates to an alleged encounter between Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Krylenko. Krylenko, an Esperantist, wore a lapel badge, Trotsky enquired as to its meaning. On hearing that, Trotsky specified that soldiers of the Red Army should wear a similar, red and it has also been suggested that the use of the red star might be related to the popular novel called Red star from 1908 by Alexander Bogdanov. Following its adoption as an emblem of the Soviet Union, the red star became a symbol for communism in a larger sense, the symbol became one of the most prominent of the Soviet Union, adorning all official buildings, awards and insignia. Sometimes the hammer and sickle appeared depicted inside or below the star, separatist and socialist movements also sometimes adopted the red star, as on the Estelada flag in the Catalan countries. Titos partisans, often including people with different political views, or even with a religious background, wore the red star as an identification symbol. As the use of the red star spread to communism in East Asia, it was adapted, while some states kept the star as it was, some used a star, particularly on a red field. The Far Eastern Republic of 1920 to 1922 used a star on its military uniforms. The flag of Vietnam also has a star on a red field. In Brazil, however, the red star remained as it was, the Soviet and Russian Federation military newspaper is called the Red Star. Some sports teams from non-communist countries used it, such as French Red Star from Paris, Swiss club FC Red Star Zürich, English Seaham Red Star F. C. the Brazilian leftist Workers Party uses a red star as its symbol with the party acronym inside. Hugo Chávez and his supporters in Venezuela have used the red star in numerous symbols and logos and it was also used throughout 2007 as a symbol of the 5 Engines of the Bolivarian Socialist Revolution
4.
Communist symbolism
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Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, including revolution, the proletariat, peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity. Communist states, parties and movements use these symbols to advance, the flag of the Soviet Union incorporated a yellow-outlined red star and a yellow hammer and sickle on red. The flags of Vietnam, China, Angola, and Mozambique would all incorporate similar symbolism under communist rule, the hammer and sickle have become the pan-communist symbol, appearing on the flags of most communist parties around the world. However, the flag of the Workers Party of Korea includes a hammer representing industrial workers, a hoe representing agricultural workers, and a brush representing the intelligentsia. In Hungary, Latvia, Indonesia, Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania, communist symbols are banned, the hammer and sickle is a symbol of the communist movement. The hammer stands for the industrial working-class while the sickle represents the workers, together the hammer. The hammer and sickle were first used during the Russian Revolution, since the Russian Revolution, the hammer and sickle have come to represent various communist parties and socialist states. The five-pointed red star is a symbol of communism as well as socialism in general. The red star was a symbol after the October Revolution. It was widely used by anti-fascist resistance parties and underground organizations in Europe leading up to, most states in the Eastern Bloc incorporated the red star into state symbols to signify their socialist nature. Today the red star is used by many socialist and communist parties, the red flag is often seen in combination with other communist symbols and party names. The flag is used at various communist and socialist rallies like May Day, the flag, being a symbol of socialism itself, is also commonly associated with non-communist variants of socialism. The red flag has had multiple meanings in history but it was first used as a flag of defiance, the red flag gained its modern political meaning in the 1871 French Revolution. After the October Revolution, the Soviet government adopted the red flag with a superimposed hammer, since the October Revolution, various socialist states and movements have used the red flag. The red and black flag has been a symbol of general communist movements, the flag was used as the symbol of the Anarcho-syndicalists during the Spanish Civil War. The black represents anarchism and the red represents leftist ideals, over time the flag spilled into statist leftist movements, these movements include the Sandinistas and the 26th of July Movement, where the flags colors are not divided diagonally but horizontally. As in the case of the Sandinistas they adopted the flag due to the movements Anarchist roots, the Internationale is an anthem of the socialist movement. It is one of the most universally recognised songs in the world and has translated into nearly every spoken language
5.
Socialism
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Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective, or cooperative ownership, to citizen ownership of equity, or to any combination of these. Although there are varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them. Socialist economic systems can be divided into both non-market and market forms, non-market socialism aims to circumvent the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and the profit system. Profits generated by these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm or accrue to society at large in the form of a social dividend, the feasibility and exact methods of resource allocation and calculation for a socialist system are the subjects of the socialist calculation debate. Core dichotomies associated with these concerns include reformism versus revolutionary socialism, the term is frequently used to draw contrast to the political system of the Soviet Union, which critics argue operated in an authoritarian fashion. By the 1920s, social democracy and communism became the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, by this time, Socialism emerged as the most influential secular movement of the twentieth century, worldwide. Socialist parties and ideas remain a force with varying degrees of power and influence in all continents. Today, some socialists have also adopted the causes of social movements. The origin of the term socialism may be traced back and attributed to a number of originators, in addition to significant historical shifts in the usage, for Andrew Vincent, The word ‘socialism’ finds its root in the Latin sociare, which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas and this latter word could mean companionship and fellowship as well as the more legalistic idea of a consensual contract between freemen. The term socialism was created by Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism. Simon coined socialism as a contrast to the doctrine of individualism. They presented socialism as an alternative to liberal individualism based on the ownership of resources. The term socialism is attributed to Pierre Leroux, and to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud in France, the term communism also fell out of use during this period, despite earlier distinctions between socialism and communism from the 1840s. An early distinction between socialism and communism was that the former aimed to only socialise production while the latter aimed to socialise both production and consumption. However, by 1888 Marxists employed the term socialism in place of communism, linguistically, the contemporary connotation of the words socialism and communism accorded with the adherents and opponents cultural attitude towards religion. In Christian Europe, of the two, communism was believed to be the atheist way of life, in Protestant England, the word communism was too culturally and aurally close to the Roman Catholic communion rite, hence English atheists denoted themselves socialists. Friedrich Engels argued that in 1848, at the time when the Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable on the continent and this latter branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany
6.
Kim Il-sung
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Kim Il-sung was the supreme leader of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, for 46 years, from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and he was also the leader of the Workers Party of Korea from 1949 to 1994. Coming to power after the overthrow of Japanese rule in 1945, he authorized the invasion of South Korea in 1950, a cease-fire in the Korean War was signed on 27 July 1953. Under his leadership, North Korea became a workers state with a publicly owned planned economy. It had close political and economic relations with the Soviet Union, by the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea enjoyed a relatively high standard of living, outperforming the South, which was riddled with political instability and economic crises. Despite this, the country still received massive funds, subsidies, during this period, the DPRK also remained critical of capitalism and the United States, seizing the American ship USS Pueblo in 1968. A cult of personality around Kim Il-sung came to domestic politics. His birthday is a holiday in North Korea and is called the Day of the Sun. Controversy surrounds Kims life before the founding of North Korea, with some sources labeling him an impostor, several sources indicate that the name Kim Il-sung had previously been used by a prominent early leader of the Korean resistance, Kim Kyung-cheon. The Soviet officer Grigory Mekler, who worked with Kim during the Soviet occupation, however, historian Andrei Lankov has argued that this is unlikely to be true. Several witnesses knew Kim before and after his time in the Soviet Union, including his superior, Zhou Baozhong, historian Bruce Cumings pointed out that Japanese officers from the Kwantung Army have attested to his fame as a resistance figure. Historians generally accept that, while Kims exploits were exaggerated by the personality cult that was built around him, Kims family is said to have originated from Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. His great-grandfather, Kim Ung-u, settled in Mangyong-dae in 1860, Kim is reported to have been born in the small village of Mangyungbong near Pyongyang on 15 April 1912. Born to Kim Hyŏng-jik and Kang Pan-sŏk, who gave him the name Kim Sŏng-ju, according to Kim, his family was not very poor, but was always a step away from poverty. According to the version, Kim’s family participated in anti-Japanese activities. Like most Korean families, they resented the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula, another view seems to be that his family settled in Manchuria, as many Koreans had at the time to escape famine. Nonetheless, Kims parents, especially Kims mother Kang Ban Suk and their exact involvement — whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both — is unclear nevertheless. Still, Japanese repression of opposition was brutal, resulting in the arrest and this repression forced many Korean families to flee Korea and settle in Manchuria
7.
Workers' Party of Korea
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The Workers Party of Korea is the founding and ruling political party of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, and the largest party represented in the Supreme Peoples Assembly. The WPK is the governing party of North Korea, although it coexists de jure with two other legal parties making up the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. It was founded in 1949 with the merger of the Workers Party of North Korea, the WPK also controls the worlds 5th largest armed force - Korean Peoples Army. This political party remains illegal in South Korea under the countrys National Security Act, the WPK is organized according to the Monolithic Ideological System and the Great Leader, a system and theory conceived by Kim Yong-ju and Kim Jong-il. The highest body of the WPK is formally the Congress, however, between 1980 and 2016, there were no congresses held. Although the WPK is, organizationally similar to communist parties, in practice it is far less institutionalized, Kim Jong-un is the current WPK leader, serving as Chairman and CMC chairman. The WPK is committed to Juche, and at the 4th Conference the party charter was amended to state that Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism was the guiding idea of the party. Party ideology has recently focused on perceived imperialist enemies of the party and state, the Partys emblem is an adaptation of the communist hammer and sickle, with a traditional Korean calligraphy brush symbolizing the working intellectual. On 13 October 1945 the North Korean Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea was established, however, the NKB–CPK remained subordinate to the CPK Central Committee. Two months later, at the 3rd Plenum of the NKB, in spring 1946 the North Korean Bureau became the Communist Party of North Korea, with Kim Il-sung its elected chairman. On 22 July 1946 Soviet authorities in North Korea established the United Democratic National Front, the Communist Party of North Korea soon merged with the New Peoples Party of Korea, a party primarily composed of communists from China. On 28 July 1946 a special commission of the two parties ratified the merger, and it became official the following day, one month later the party held its founding congress, establishing the Workers Party of North Korea. The congress elected former leader of the New Peoples Party of Korea Kim Tu-bong as the first WPNK chairman, however, despite his formal downgrade in the partys hierarchy Kim Il-sung remained its leader. Party control increased throughout the country after the congress, from 27–30 March 1948, the WPNK convened its 2nd Congress. While Kim Tu-bong was still the formal head, Kim Il-sung presented the main report to the congress. In it he claimed that North Korea was a base of democracy, on 28 April 1948 a special session of the Supreme Peoples Assembly approved the constitution, which led to the official establishment of an independent North Korea. It did not call for the establishment of an independent North Korea, but for a unified Korea, Kim Il-sung was the appointed head of government of the new state, with Kim Tu-bong heading the legislative branch. A year later, on 30 June 1949, the Workers Party of Korea was created with the merger of the WPNK and the Workers Party of South Korea
8.
Division of Korea
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The division of Korea between North and South Korea was the result of the Allied victory in World War II in 1945, ending the Empire of Japans 35-year rule of Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union occupied the country, with the boundary between their zones of control along the 38th parallel, with the onset of the Cold War, negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union failed to lead to an independent, unified Korea. In 1948, UN-supervised elections were held in the US-occupied south only and this led to the establishment of the Republic of Korea in South Korea, which was promptly followed by the establishment of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in North Korea. The United States supported the South, and the Soviet Union supported the North, the Korean War left the two Koreas separated by the Korean Demilitarized Zone in the later part of the Cold War and beyond. When the Russo-Japanese War ended in 1905 Korea became a protectorate of. The Korean king Gojong was removed, in the following decades, nationalist and radical groups emerged, mostly in exile, to struggle for independence. Divergent in their outlooks and approaches, these failed to unite in one national movement. The Korean Provisional Government in China failed to obtain widespread recognition, in the declaration after this conference, Korea was mentioned for the first time. The three powers declared that they were, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943 and the Yalta Conference in February 1945, on August 8,1945, after three months to the day, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Soviet troops advanced rapidly, and the US government became anxious that they would occupy the whole of Korea, on August 10,1945 two young officers – Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel – were assigned to define an American occupation zone. Working on extremely short notice and completely unprepared, they used a National Geographic map to decide on the 38th parallel and they chose it because it divided the country approximately in half but would place the capital Seoul under American control. No experts on Korea were consulted, the two men were unaware that forty years before, Japan and Russia had discussed sharing Korea along the same parallel. Rusk later said that had he known, he almost surely would have chosen a different line, the division placed sixteen million Koreans in the American zone and nine million in the Soviet zone. To the surprise of the Americans, the Soviet Union immediately accepted the division, the agreement was incorporated into General Order No.1 for the surrender of Japan. Soviet forces began amphibious landings in Korea by August 14 and rapidly took over the north-east of the country, on August 24, the Red Army reached Pyongyang. General Abe Nobuyuki, the last Japanese Governor-General of Korea, had established contact with a number of influential Koreans since the beginning of August 1945 to prepare the hand-over of power. Throughout August, Koreans organized peoples committee branches for the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence, headed by Lyuh Woon-hyung, on September 6,1945, a congress of representatives was convened in Seoul and founded the short-lived Peoples Republic of Korea
9.
Korean Empire
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The Korean Empire was proclaimed in October 1897, after the Donghak Peasant Revolution of 1894 to 1895 and Gabo Reforms that swept the country from 1894 to 1896. It lasted until the annexation of Korea by Japan in August 1910, Emperor Gojong oversaw the partial modernization of the military, economy, land system, education system, and various industries. Korea in the Joseon Dynasty had been a client kingdom of China in the Qing Dynasty. Towards the end of the 19th century, influence over Korea was increasingly an area of conflict between the Qing and Japan, with its newfound preeminence over the waning and weak Qing dynasty, Japan had delegates negotiate the Treaty of Shimonoseki with the Qing dynasty. Through signing the treaty, a designed to prevent the southern expansion of Russia, Japan wrested control over the Liaodong Peninsula from Qing. Queen Min, the consort of King Gojong, also recognized this change, Queen Min began to emerge as a key figure in higher-level Korean counteraction against Japanese influence. With the assassination of his wife Queen Min, King Gojong, during the time from Queen Mins death to the kings return from Russian protection, Korea underwent another major upheaval both at home and abroad. By 1894, new laws passed by progressives and reformers in the royal cabinet forced through long-desired reforms aimed at revamping Koreas antiquated society and these laws were called the Gabo Reform, referring to the year in which they began. Meanwhile, the new reforms aimed at modernizing Korean society soon attracted controversy from within and this led to the uprising of the Eulmi temporary armies aimed at avenging the assassination of Queen Min. In 1897, King Gojong, yielding to rising pressure from overseas and the demands of the Independence Association-led public opinion, returned to Gyŏngungung. Gojong became the Gwangmu Emperor, the first imperial head of state and this marked the complete end of the old world order and traditional amicable dependency system in the Far East. The significance of the declaration of an Empire, in the Korean understanding of the situation was to declare Koreas independence from others, historically, the usage of Emperor was reserved only for the Chinese Emperor, the Son of Heaven. Korean dynasties had acknowledged themselves as vassals of the Chinese, and had refrained from declaring their equality with China. When Japan experienced the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor of Japan was declared the source of sovereignty in the Japanese government, upon receiving news of the Meiji restoration from Japan, the Korean government refused to acknowledge the change. Not only did it challenge the primacy of the Chinese emperor as the suzerains of Korea but Japans address also addressed Korea as an equal, the change in title for Korea to empire only became possible after the Sino-Japanese war. A group of Korean officials and intellectuals felt great necessity of the reform of the country. More and more intellectuals were informed of the Western civilization and became conscious of the powerful nations of Europe. Later, the progressives within the group initiated The Gabo Reform in 1894, American missionaries, who had close relationships with the Korean royal court, also helped the propagation of Western culture
10.
Flag of South Korea
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The flags background is white, which is a traditional Korean color, common to the daily attire of 19th century Koreans and the color is also use for a traditional Korean wear. The circle in the middle is derived from the philosophy of yin-yang, the blue section represents the negative cosmic forces, and the red section represents the opposing positive cosmic forces. The trigrams together represent the principle of movement and harmony, each trigram represents one of the four classical elements. These four trigrams are described in the table below, The lack of the flag only became an issue in 1876. Before 1876, a flag did not exist and it was not considered important. The issue began during the negotiations for the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, although the delegate of the Empire of Japan had the Japanese national flag, the Joseon Dynasty could not hang a corresponding flag. Thus, there were proposals to create a flag. At 1880, the proliferation of foreign negotiations led to a need for the national flag, the most major proposal was described in the ‘Korea Strategy’ papers written by the Chinese delegate Huang Zunxian. The proposal was to incorporate the Flag of the Qing Dynasty for the Joseon Dynasty, in response to the proposal, the government sent the delegate of Lee Young-Sook to explore the possibility of the issue through the politician Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang agreed with some parts of the proposal, but proposed that other factors should be differed. The Qing Dynasty agreed with Li Hongzhang, but it is unknown how far the Joseon government explored this proposal, the issue was then shelved but reemerged with the ratification of the United States–Korea Treaty of 1882. The controversy arose after the delegate Lee Eung-Jun presented a similar to the flag of Japan to the Chinese official Ma Jianzhong. On August 22,1882, Park Yeong-hyo created a model of the Taegukgi to the Joseon government. Park Yeong-hyo became the first person to use the Taegukgi in the Empire of Japan in 1882, on January 27,1883, the Joseon government officially promulgated Taegukgi to be used as the official national flag. Before the division of Korea, a similar to the current South Korean flag was used for the entire country. However, after the division, two flags started to be used, the flag of South Korea and the flag of North Korea. The current South Korean flag was declared official by the government of South Korea on October 15,1949, in October 1997, the exact colors of the flag were specified via presidential decree. The width and height are in the ratio of 3 to 2, there are five sections on the flag, the taegeuk and the four groups of bars
11.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
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Taegukgi of the Joseon dynasty (before 1800)
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