This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (South Korea)

Last modified: 2014-10-18 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: south korea | ministry of foreign affars | ministry of foreign affars and trade | ying yang | mofat | mofa |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



[flag of the Ministry of Foreign Affaris and Trade]
image by Randy Young, 13 October 2014


See also:

Overview

Following up on the original message thread from October 2006, below is some information about changes to the flag of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Earlier today I was reading some articles online about discussions between the US and South Korea regarding deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea. The articles had several photographs of South Korea's Ambassador Ahn Ho-young speaking in front of two flags: the South Korean national flag and another one that I didn't immediately recognize. The most noticeable difference was that the flag I saw in the articles had the initials "MOFA" not "MOFAT."
Doing some research, I found the following information:
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was established in 1948. In 1998, the ministry's name was changed to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT, 외교통상부), and it was given jurisdiction over external trade. In 2013, it reverted to its earlier name of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the responsibility for trade matters was handed over to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, which was renamed the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy."
Source
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_%28South_Korea%29
Randy Young, 13 October 2014


The Flag

Based on that information, I'm assuming that the Ministry's flag changed at the same time as the name change in 2013. The current flag design is the same as the previous, with the Ministry's seal displayed against a white field. The seal, however, has been changed: the previous version said "Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade" and "MOFAT," while the current version says only "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and "MOFA."
Randy Young,


Previous Flag

[flag of the Ministry of Foreign Affaris and Trade]
image by Eugene Ipavec, 6 October 2006

The top prospect for next UN Secretary-General, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, was shown on the BBC in a meeting in front of a flag with a red/blue logo surrounded by black writing - not the national flag, which was off to another side. The logo appears to be that of the South Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Eugene Ipavec, 6 October 2006