The National Seal of the Republic of Korea () is a governmental
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
used for purposes of state in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
.
The seal is carved with characters called ''
injang''.
Since the late 20th century the seal's design consists of South Korea's official name written in
Korean characters inside of a square; during the 20th century
Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
were used.
History
Following the establishment of the
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n state in August 1948, its government adopted in May 1949 a new state seal, or ''guksae'' (). It is used in promulgation of constitutions, designation of cabinet members and ambassadors, conference of
national orders and important
diplomatic
Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...
documents.
The seal's design has been modified multiple times over the years. The first version of the seal, used until the early 1960s, used
Hanja
Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom.
(, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...
characters.
In the late 20th century, the lettering was changed to use only Korean characters.
The current seal is the fifth version and was designed in September 2011, being adopted in October 2011.
Previous seals
Seal of the Republic of Korea (1949–1962).svg, National seal (1949–1962)
Seal of the Republic of Korea (1963–1999).svg, National seal (1963–1999)
Seal of South Korea (1999–2008, 2010–2011).svg, National seal (1999–2008)
Seal of South Korea (2008–2010).svg, National seal (2008–2010)
Seal of South Korea (1999–2008, 2010–2011).svg, National seal (2010–2011)
Seal of South Korea.svg, National seal (since 2011)
See also
*
Imperial Seal of China
The Heirloom Seal of the Realm (), also known in English as the Imperial Seal of China, was a Chinese jade Seal (Chinese), seal carved out of Heshibi, a sacred piece of Chinese jade, jade.The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museu ...
*
Cash seal (China)
In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.
In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immed ...
*
National Seals of the Republic of China
There are two National Seals of the Republic of China (), namely the Seal of the Republic of China () and the Seal of Honor (). The Seal of the Republic of China is the official seal of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Seal of Honor is us ...
*
Seal of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
The Seal of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China (), or the Founding Seal (), was the national seal of People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1959. It is not in use anymore, and is kept in the National Museum of ...
*
Privy Seal of Japan
The is one of the national seals and is the Emperor of Japan's official seal.
Description
The Privy Seal of Japan is square, and its inscription ("The Emperor's Imperial Seal") is written in . It has two lines of vertical writing, with the ...
*
State Seal of Japan
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
*
Seal script
Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of seal ...
*
Seal cutting (art)
Seal carving, also seal cutting, or ''zhuanke'' in Chinese (), is a traditional form of art that originated in China and later spread across East Asia. It refers to cutting a design into the bottom face of the seal (the active surface used for sta ...
*
Seal engraving (art)
Seal carving, also seal cutting, or ''zhuanke'' in Chinese (), is a traditional form of art that originated in China and later spread across East Asia. It refers to cutting a design into the bottom face of the seal (the active surface used for sta ...
*
Seal knob
Seal knob ( 印 纽), refers to carving or small decorative reliefwork at the top or side of a seal. The associated carving technique is called knob carving ( 纽 刻), a traditional technique that originated in ancient China and later spread ...
References
{{Seal (East Asia)
National seals
National symbols of South Korea