An exhibition of flags for the reunification of North and South Korea was held at the Berlin Wall’s East Side Gallery on Korean Independence Day. In this exhibition, Korean university students designed flags for Korean reunification and exhibited them at the Berlin Wall, which symbolizes harmony and unification. An Jong-eun and Park Jung-bae, juniors in the Department of Visual Communication Design in Keimyung University, wanted to make known their desire for the Korean peninsula to be unified. Therefore, they held the exhibition. Foreigners, not to mention the students, were moved by the exhibition.

Students in the Department of Visual Communication Design planned this project, which began as an assignment, for a year. The students originally wanted to exhibit at Panmunjom but they couldn’t do that because of budget problems. The “Panmunjom Exhibition,” which was sponsored by the Ministry of National Unification, was held in a small gallery in Daegu. However, students said, “We had too much passion to finish this exhibition in a small gallery. Therefore, we looked into holding it at the Berlin Wall or at the Venice Biennale.” As such, they held intensive discussions with the city authorities of Berlin. Therefore, this exhibition could be held.

Two flag designs were based on Hangeul. Eolgi, which is the work of An Jong-eun, was based on the Hangeul eol (“spirit” in Korean), and deohangi, which is the work of Park Jung-bae, borrowed the words han (one) and hap (harmony).

The students held many events for foreign visitors like giving them Korean names and distributing badges containing Korean images. They held events to inform visitors about the excellence of Hangeul, and they were encouraged by the visitors.

Park Jung-bae said, “Through this exhibition, I met many foreigners who were interested in Korea. I plan to exhibit the unification flag again. I want to inform the whole world of our desire for unification through my designs.”