U.S. Embassy in South Korea Unfurls Giant Black Lives Matter Banner

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, unfurled a banner reading “Black Lives Matter” across its building and posted on social media Saturday that it stood “in solidarity with fellow Americans grieving and peacefully protesting to demand positive change.”

Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, shared the tweet.

Harris quoted former President John F. Kennedy: “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”

Harris added that Martin Luther King Jr.’s work to end racial injustice remained unfinished in the world and that “that work falls on each of us today.”

This is not the first time the U.S. Embassy in Seoul has notably expressed support for a social cause. In 2019, the office was in the company of a handful of other U.S. embassies — including those in Santiago, Chile, and New Delhi — that defied a State Department order not to hoist a Pride flag. Instead, it placed a Pride banner on its facade.

The actions were described as “category one insurrection” by an anonymous diplomat close to the State Department, according to The Washington Post. The embassy displayed the banner for three weeks before taking it down.

This year, the banner was unfurled again for Pride Month, according to recent geotagged social media posts and reports in South Korean media.