Black Lives Matter banner, Pride flag removed from US embassy in Seoul on President Donald Trump's orders
An uncomfortable repercussion of the Black Lives Matter Movement in the US was felt in South Korea on Monday, June 15, when a large BLM banner unfurled on the front facade of the American Embassy building in Seoul was found to be missing. Along with it, a separate flag recognizing the rights of sexually diverse people and the LGBTQIA+ community was also gone.
On Saturday, June 13, the embassy hosted the BLM banner to “stand in solidarity with fellow Americans grieving and peacefully protesting to demand positive change” in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police on Memorial Day last month. On Monday, as per a post on Twitter, the banner with "a rainbow flag" were removed and a “We will not forget” banner commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War (1950-53) replaced it.
The displays have been removed 'to avoid misperception'
According to a report in USA Today, a spokesperson for the embassy in Seoul said the banner and flag were removed “to avoid the misperception that American taxpayer dollars were spent to benefit such organizations”. The banners were, however, still seen on the embassy’s website on Monday.
According to reports in Bloomberg and CNN that cited sources familiar to the matter, the BLM banner was pulled down after it was brought to the attention of President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. While the Bloomberg report did not elaborate, CNN said the diplomatic body got a request for the displays to be taken down by the state department’s “seventh floor” which houses Pompeo’s offices.
The state department did not comment on the issue.
Harry Harris, the Japanese-born American ambassador to South Korea who was appointed by Trump in July 2018, had earlier ordered that the BLM and Pride flags be displayed on the embassy. A retired four-star admiral who had earlier served as the commander of the US military in the Pacific Theater before retiring from the Navy, clarified that the decision to post the BLM sign was his even as the Trump administration faced flak over its response to the countrywide protests in the US in the wake of Floyd’s death.
Quoting former president John F Kennedy's speech in June 1963, Harris tweeted: “I believe in what President JFK said on June 10, 1963, at American University: ‘If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.’ The USA is a free and diverse nation... From that diversity, we gain our strength.”
Harris found an appreciation from the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep Eliot Engel who tweeted on Monday: “Thank you @USEmbassySeoul for your principled stand against racism & support for LGBTQ+ community. I know the US lacks ethical leadership from the WH, but there are millions of Americans who appreciate you demonstrating American values to the world. #BlackLivesMatter #Pride.”
On the question of flying the Pride flag in June, considered it's Pride Month 2020 – this is not the first time that such an issue has come up. Last year, certain embassies were not given the permission to fly the flag on their embassy flag poles though the state department said then that Pompeo had no issue with the flag unfurled elsewhere at the embassies.
South Korea is a key ally of the US in East Asia and is currently witnessing a growing tension with its hostile neighbor – North Korea.