i think you dont have to keep flag information to show. you can make flagnames same with country names in country list so when a user select a country, the flag path appeared automatically with a variable.
example:
dim country
when a user selected a country from list you can transfer the countryname to flagname with that variable
country = country_list.value
flagpath = "..../forum/flags/" & country & ".gif"
i think this can help you.
%>
<script language="JavaScript">
your function () {
your java code here
}
</script>
you can use tjava with this code in vb. place the code before html tags...