Miniature Medals

Miniature Medals 약장

Some Korean Orders and medals are available as miniature medals, Yak Jang 약장. Korean law requires miniature Medals to be ½ of their normal size, and expressly prohibits miniaturizing Orders that are normally worn on a sash or cravat. During the 1950s, most Korea Orders and Medals were breast medals. Miniatures from this time can be found, but starting in the early 60s, Sashes and Cravats were added to the higher classes. Korean legislation also prohibits the wearing of full-sized orders on a sash or cravat while wearing miniature medals of the lower classes. In general, only the 4th and 5th classes of an Order, Merit Medals and Ki Jang can be miniaturized. Because of these prohibitions, miniature medals are rarely found after the 1950s. High ranking military officers and civil servants want to wear their most prestigious orders at formal events, so miniatures are usually not needed by the recipients.

All that being said, there is a caveat. Miniature Breast Stars are known to exist because there are situations where Korean diplomats and high-ranking Korean military officers need to wear miniatures to conform with the other attendees of an event, and in these situations, miniatures have been manufactured, even though they violate the legal codes.

A couple of interesting footnotes:

Korean legislation gives Korean Awards precedence over foreign decorations. However, it is not unusual to find Korean groups or ribbon bars where the assemblage is done by the relative importance of the individual medals, regardless of the award’s origin. In the example above and to the left, the U.S. Bronze Star has been mounted by its relative importance between the Orders of Military Merit and the Defense Merit Medal. On the above group to the right, the United Nations medal is placed last after all the Korean medals, as required by Korean Law. If it had been mounted by its relative importance, it should be next to the Korean War Medal.

The Korean phrase “Yak Jang” 약장 is used for “Miniature Medal”, “Ribbon Bar”, but translation programs usually render it as “Medicine Chest” or “Medicine Cabinet”.