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National Seal of the Republic of Korea 대한민국의 국새 | |
---|---|
Armiger | South Korea |
Adopted | 25 October 2011 |
Motto | 대한민국 (Republic of Korea) |
The National Seal of the Republic of Korea (Korean: 대한민국의 국새; RR: Daehanmingugui guksae; MR: Taehanmin'gugŭi kuksae) is a governmental seal used for purposes of state in South Korea.[1][2] The seal is carved with characters called injang.[1]
Since the late 20th century, the seal's design consists of South Korea's official name written in hangeul inside of a square; during the mid-20th century Chinese characters in Seal Script were used.
Following the establishment of the South Korean state in August 1948, its government adopted on 5 May 1949 a new state seal, or guksae (Korean: 국새). It is used in promulgation of constitutions, designation of cabinet members and ambassadors, conference of national orders and important diplomatic documents.[3][4]
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 characters 大韓民國之璽[a], it was made of silver, and topped by a sapsali for knob.[3][5] Later, the lettering was changed to use only Hangeul characters, and the knob was redesigned as turtle. The third seal the knob was designed as two phoenixes and a hibiscus syriacus, and made of gold. The fourth seal featured phoenix only for knob. The fifth seal again featured two phoenixes and a hibiscus syriacus at the top.[3][6][7]
The current seal is the fifth version and was designed in September 2011, being adopted in October 2011.[3]