The ‘121723 Taegeukgi Campaign That Must Be Found to the End,’ jointly promoted by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (Minister Kwon Oh-eul) and Hanwha Group, won the top prize in the government PR category at the 33rd Korea PR Awards.
The Korea PR Awards, organized by the Korea PR Association, are the most prestigious awards in the promotional field, judging the promotional achievements of companies and public institutions both domestically and internationally since 1993.
The ‘121723 Taegeukgi Campaign That Must Be Found to the End’ was conducted to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Korean War, honoring the sacrifice of 121,723 soldiers who have not yet returned to their families and encouraging public participation. The campaign symbolically expressed the fallen soldiers by producing 121,723 badges engraved with the Taegeukgi motif, using steel from Hanwha Aerospace’s K9 self-propelled howitzer, representing Korea’s defense industry.
The campaign took place both online and offline, centering around the National Cemetery in Seoul, Olympic Park, KTX Seoul Station, and professional baseball stadiums during June, the month of Patriots and Veterans. It received high appraisal for allowing the public to easily remember the heroes of the Korean War and feel the meaning of patriots’ merits in everyday life.
Additionally, various videos were released, including campaign videos, Taegeukgi badge unboxing shorts, Hanwha Eagles stadium field sketches, and influencer collaboration content, recording a total of 20.87 million exposures, reaching 6.94 million people on Instagram, and generating 5.32 million views on YouTube, garnering widespread public response.
The campaign is noteworthy for being a long-term PR project rather than a one-time event. Since starting the ‘122609 Taegeukgi’ campaign on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War in 2020, it progressed with the ‘121879 Taegeukgi’ for the 70th anniversary of the armistice in 2023, and evolved into this year’s ‘121723 Taegeukgi,’ allowing the public to directly feel the core values of veterans’ affairs, which is that the state takes responsibility for those who sacrificed for the country until the end.
Shin Ho-chang, honorific professor at Sogang University and chairman of the Korea PR Awards jury, commented, “Since 2020, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has enhanced communication with the public every year, achieving outstanding PR results. This communication capability laid the foundation for the bureau’s promotion to a ministry.”
Kwon Oh-eul, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, said, “It is meaningful to have won with a campaign that remembers the sacrifice and dedication of 121,723 Korean War soldiers along with the public. We will continue to widely spread the value of patriotism, ‘a nation that remembers to the end, a government that takes responsibility to the end,’ through the Taegeukgi campaign.”