Given my civil engineering background, when I started to work in the flagpole and flagpoles industries, two questions popped into my head: what is the world’s tallest flagpole? And where is it located?

For very tall flagpoles (200+ft), it is obvious that a support structure will be required to meet code and safety standards. Aluminum is most commonly used to make flagpoles longer than 80 feet. A flag tower will likely be constructed if a tall flagpole is able to withstand heavy winds loads.

The tower was constructed in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of North Korea, years ago. This flagpole (or “flagpole”) reached a height (525 feet) and carried a 300 kilo North Korean flag.

In the (by some), so-called “flagpole warfare”, a relatively brief battle for the sky’, the North Koreans initially saw the South Korean flagpole rise another 330ft with a 300lb flag. The North Koreans countered South Koreans building their current flag tower, 525 ft in height, which is now a record.

It is important to take down the heavy North Korean flag when it starts raining. Saturation with water will increase the flag’s weight significantly. A heavier flag at the flagpole’s top increases momentum which in turn leads to stress levels.

Strangely, others have not accepted the claim made in North Korea by other flag-tower builders that it is the largest flagpole in the globe. A flagpole known as the Ashgabat flagpole located in Turkmenistan is the world’s tallest flagpole.

The Turkmenistan flagpole has a height 434+feet and is taller than Aqaba flagpole which stands at 433+feet. It was previously the tallest flagpole (433 feet) in the world. Its location and height make it easy to see from distant countries.