A walk-through of the Korean War Memorial in Fairview Park, Mint Hill, N.C.

The Korean War Memorial in Mint Hill is designed to resemble the flag (Taegeukgi) of South Korea. At the entrance to the Memorial will be a large map of Korea inscribed into the granite walkway. Walking forward from the map the visitor will see five brass emblems that represent all five branches of the United States Armed Services: Army – Air Force – Marines – Navy – Coast Guard. Three large flagpoles are just forward of the service emblems and will display the American Flag, the North Carolina flag and the flag of Mint Hill.

Just past the flagpoles will be steps and a handicap ramp that will take the visitor to the center of the Memorial that is designed to represent the Taegeukgi or Korean national flag. A three-foot tall circle – 60 feet in diameter – surrounds the center of the memorial. This circle is a planter and will contain holly type shrubbery.

Inside the circle – near the center – the visitor will see four black granite pillars that are four feet wide and eleven feet tall. These will have inscribed into them the names of the 789 veterans from North Carolina that were either killed in action or are missing in action from the Korean War (1950 – 1953). The four columns represent the four outer elements (kwae) of the Korean flag.

In the center of the Taegeukgi, the visitor will see a large solid granite fountain. This represents the center element (taeguk) of the flag. On the East and West sides of the circle are life-sized statues of soldiers in their ponchos.

The walkway is made of granite pavers honoring our military of all wars. Additional granite benches and flowering trees will be outside the circle.

The Korean National Flag, Taeguki, adopted during the latter years of the Joseon Dynasty, takes its name from the Taeguk circle in the center of the flag, which is divided equally and in perfect balance.  The upper red section represents yang and the blue lower section represents eum (in Chinese pronunciation yin), an ancient symbol of the universe – depicting the powerful cosmic forces that oppose each other but achieve perfect harmony and balance: fire and water, day and night, dark and light, masculine and feminine, heat and cold, positive and negative, and so on.

The trigrams bars at each corner also carry the ideas of opposition and balance.  The three unbroken lines stand for heaven: the opposite three broken lines represent earth.  At the lower left corner are two lines with a broken line in between, symbolizing fire.  Diagonally opposite is the symbol of water.  The white background shows the purity of the Korean people and their peace-loving spirit.  The flag as a whole symbolizes the ideal of the Korean people of living in harmony with the universe.