Nephew of Shin Ik-Hee designs North Korean flag

North Korea's flag and national emblem, which have been in use since the peninsula's Aug. 15, 1945 liberation from Japanese colonial rule, were designed by painter Shin Hae-Gyun, nephew of the late independence fighter Shin Ik-Hee, whose pen name is Haegong, it was confirmed recently.

The North Korean monthlies, ``Chosun Arts¡¯¡¯ and ``Chollima 2000¡¯¡¯ revealed in their November issues that painter Shin Hae-Gyun had designed the emblem, national flag and colors of People¡¯s Army and flag of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School. The South recently obtained recent issues of the two magazines.

Painter Shin used an alias, Chung Chang-Pa, instead of his real name. He was a member of the so-called ``Palrogun,¡¯¡¯ a guerrilla unit active in the northeastern region of China during the Japanese colonial period. After the nation's liberation, he worked as a painter in North Korea and was involved in sectarian strife. Once disgraced, he was reinstated last year at the instruction of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, chairman of the National Defense Commission.

Painter Shin also designed the prestigious (North Korean) Republic Hero medals, Order of National Flag (first to third classes), Order of Free Independence (first to second classes), honorary medals for soldiers (first to second classes) and merit medals among others, according to the monthlies.

They reported that Shin was born to a yangban (aristocratic class) family in 1913 in Kwangju-gun, Kyonggi Province. However, they negatively evaluated the late Shin Ik-Hee, saying that in his younger days he did not take care of his elder brother and nephew, who suffered from various diseases, because he had devoted himself only to partisan strife when he served as the home minister in the provisional government in Shanghai