The Unification Flag is a flag designed to represent all of Korea when North and South Korea participate as one team in sporting events. The flag was first used in 1991 when the two countries competed as a single team in the 41st World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan and the 8th World Youth Football Championship in Lisbon, Portugal. The two countries' teams marched together under the flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia; the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece; the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy; and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar; however, the two countries competed separately in sporting events. The flag was not used in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China due to the decision made by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that the two teams would enter separately. The two countries also marched separately at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.
The flag represents a united Korea (both North and South). The background is white. In the centre there is a blue silhouette of the Korean peninsula, including the island of Jeju-do to the southwest and Ulleung-do to the east. The flag has no status as the official flag of either country.
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“Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day’s demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)