Taegeukgi flown by Syngman Rhee in New York restored to original form after 84 years

A Korean national flag used by Syngman Rhee at a 1942 Korean independence banquet in New York has been restored to its original form after 84 years.

The Cultural Heritage Conservation Science Center of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, under the Cultural Heritage Administration, announced Thursday that it had completed conservation work on the nationally registered cultural heritage known as the "Taegeukgi flown at the New York Waldorf Astoria Hotel."

The flag was produced in the 1930s by the Copeland Company, an American flag manufacturer. It was designated a nationally registered cultural heritage in 2008 for its value as a source for understanding the production techniques used in Korean flags made abroad and as a key document in the history of the Korean independence movement.

The flag features the taeguk symbol and four trigrams precisely stitched onto a white background. The taeguk was sewn by first securing the blue fabric and then layering the red fabric on top. Analysis revealed that the fly side was woven in a twill weave — identifiable by its diagonal pattern — while the hoist side used a plain weave, in which two threads are twisted together and interlaced one by one in alternating fashion. The taeguk and trigrams were also plain-woven, confirming that different weaving techniques were applied to different parts of the flag.

Before conservation, the flag showed widespread yellowing across the hoist side, along with moisture stains concentrated on the right. The fabric of the taeguk symbol and the four trigrams had folded and creased, and the stitching on some trigrams had come apart, leaving the flag in generally deteriorated condition.

Conservators removed the flag from its frame, stripped adhesive from the back, and stabilized creased areas by applying fine-mist humidification followed by controlled pressure. Yellowing and stains were reduced by first removing surface contaminants with a soft brush and vacuum suction, then carrying out wet cleaning with agarose gel — a polysaccharide refined from agar extracted from red algae, used for targeted stain removal. Torn trigram sections were filled in along the original stitch lines to preserve the flag's initial form as closely as possible.

The conservation work was funded by lottery proceeds.

The flag is to be transferred to the National Assembly Records Center, its existing repository, for storage and use.

In 1942, amid World War II, Rhee hosted a banquet at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, inviting American politicians, journalists and religious figures to rally support for Korean independence. The event was part of his diplomatic campaign to raise international awareness of Korea's cause and press the US government to recognize the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.