North Korea Changes Flag Proportions From 1:2 to 1:1.65, First Adjustment Since 1948, as Revised Constitution Is Published
North Korea's external propaganda website Naenara published the text of the country's revised constitution on Friday, November 13. As the Korea JoongAng Daily reported the same day, Article 166 of the revised constitution sets the ratio of the national flag's height to its width at 1:1.65 (20:33), replacing the previous ratio of 1:2. It is the first change to the flag's proportions since the regime's founding in 1948, and it makes the flag shorter.
The flag's basic design is unchanged: a wide red band in the center, bordered by narrow white bands and then blue bands above and below, with a red five-pointed star inside a white circle on the hoist side. In its explanation on the website, North Korea said the red band symbolizes the blood shed by anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters, the white circle and stripes represent loyalty to the ruling party and its leader, and the blue stripes stand for anti-imperialist independence, world peace and friendship, and the republic's sovereignty.
The constitutional amendment was ratified in March this year. The revisions also wrote Pyongyang's redefinition of inter-Korean relations into the constitution, removing references to reunification in line with Kim Jong-un's \"two hostile states\" policy. In 2024, North Korea had similarly revised its national anthem, replacing \"three thousand ri,\" a reference to the whole Korean Peninsula, with \"this world.\"
\"Changing the flag's proportions while preserving its basic design is an attempt to carry forward the legacy of previous leaders while establishing a distinct national identity for the Kim Jong-un era,\" Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, told the Korea JoongAng Daily. \"The change also signifies the institutionalization of the 'two hostile states' policy at the constitutional level and through national symbols.\"
(Source: Korea JoongAng Daily)
Source: Korea JoongAng Daily
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：朝鲜新长宽比国旗（2026 年 3 月宪法修订后样式，纵横比 20 比 33）。公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: North Korea's national flag in its new proportions (20:33), following the March 2026 constitutional revision. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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