The Netflix Squid Game series “red light, green light” game, which in Korean is has nothing to do with lights, but everything to do with a flower. The song’s lyrics are, 무궁화 꽃이 피었읍니다, and is based on the (Rose of Sharon) hibiscus and also South Korea’s national flower.
So what they’re saying in that game is “the hibiscus flower, has bloomed.”
The 무궁화 is very important to Korean culture. It’s even in the national anthem. The flower used to be extremely common and could be found everywhere in Korea.
However, during the Japanese invasion of Korea, the Japanese colonists tried to change that.
The Japanese colonists saw how Koreans felt and identified strongly with the flower, and of course, they weren’t going to let that fly.
The Japanese colonists started branding the flowers as common and dirty, and in a lot of places, they started fading out of existence.
Fortunately, Koreans held tight to their pride and identity around this flower, and it has flourished again in Korea.
So that childhood rhyme in Squid Game has a lot to do with Korean pride.
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