--- title: 'Black Lives Matter' Banner Removed From US Embassy in Seoul description: A “Black Lives Matter” banner draped on the front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul was removed after it was brought to the attention of Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-06-15T15:17:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:05.246Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Black Lives Matter' Banner Removed From U.S. Embassy in Seoul og:description: A large, multicolored Pride banner recognizing LGBTQ people was also removed Monday og:url: https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b13c2bf99309b6c/698a0f5916d88401cdc384cd/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: A Black Lives Matter banner, a United States national flag og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Black Lives Matter' Banner Removed From U.S. Embassy in Seoul twitter:description: A large, multicolored Pride banner recognizing LGBTQ people was also removed Monday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b13c2bf99309b6c/698a0f5916d88401cdc384cd/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Black Lives Matter' Banner Removed From U.S. Embassy in Seoul > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Thousands Protest Across 3 Continents to Honor George Floyd and Support the Black Lives Matter Movement [Watch (HLS stream): Thousands Protest Across 3 Continents to Honor George Floyd and Support the Black Lives Matter Movement](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9jFl8B0e.m3u8) (1:16)  _Published 2020-06-06. Thousands of people rallied in Australia and Europe to honor George Floyd and to voice support Saturday for what is becoming an international Black Lives Matter movement_ by [Jeong-Ho Lee, Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jeong-Ho Lee, Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg Contributor Jun 15, 2020 3:17 PM UTC  A Black Lives Matter banner, a United States national flag and a rainbow flag are hung on the facade of the US embassy building in Seoul. A Black Lives Matter banner, a United States national flag and a rainbow flag are hung on the facade of the US embassy building in Seoul. Simon Shin—SOPA Images/LightRocket /Getty Images by [Jeong-Ho Lee, Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jeong-Ho Lee, Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg Contributor Jun 15, 2020 3:17 PM UTC A large “[Black Lives Matter](https://time.com/5849721/how-to-help-black-lives-matter-protests/)” banner draped on the front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul was removed on Monday after it was brought to the attention of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, according to people familiar with the matter. Pompeo and Trump were both displeased about the banner, the people said. A large, multicolored Pride”banner recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people was also removed on Monday. They were replaced with a banner commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War. The embassy unfurled the “Black Lives Matter” banner on its mission building on Saturday to support [worldwide anti-racism protests](https://time.com/5847967/george-floyd-protests-trump/) that have followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody last month. **Read more:** [_The Story Behind TIME’s George Floyd Protest Cover_](https://time.com/5851623/time-cover-devin-allen-george-floyd-protests/) The U.S. Embassy “stands in solidarity with fellow Americans grieving and peacefully protesting to demand positive change,” the embassy said Saturday on Twitter, posting a picture of the banner. “Our #BlackLivesMatter banner shows our support for the fight against racial injustice and police brutality as we strive to be a more inclusive & just society.” But on Monday, after the banners were removed, the embassy said that U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris did not intend “to support or encourage donations to any specific organization. To avoid the misperception that American taxpayer dollars were spent to benefit such organizations, he directed that the banner be removed.” Harris said earlier in a re-tweet of the embassy’s tweet about the banners, in Korean, that “USA is a free and diverse nation… from that diversity, we gain our strength.” He also quoted former President John Kennedy. The embassy had displayed the large rainbow flag in support of “LGBTQ Pride Month” last year, despite an order of the State Department not to hoist the banner. Harris was nominated for his post by Trump in 2018 after a Navy career in which he was the first Asian-American to hold a four-star rank and the first to head U.S. Pacific Command. He was the Joint Chiefs’ representative to the secretary of state from 2011 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. An anti-racism protest took place in Seoul on June 6, with more than 100 people marching in black clothes through the city’s central shopping district of Myeongdong. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/"},"headline":"'Black Lives Matter' Banner Removed From U.S. Embassy in Seoul","datePublished":"2020-06-15T15:17:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:05.246Z","description":"A large, multicolored “pride” banner recognizing LGBTQ people was also removed Monday","url":"https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/","keywords":["White House","South Korea","wire","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b13c2bf99309b6c/698a0f5916d88401cdc384cd/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeong-Ho Lee, Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b13c2bf99309b6c/698a0f5916d88401cdc384cd/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A Black Lives Matter banner, a United States national flag","caption":"A Black Lives Matter banner, a United States national flag","creditText":"Simon Shin—SOPA Images/LightRocket /Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/","name":"'Black Lives Matter' Banner Removed From U.S. Embassy in Seoul"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Thousands Protest Across 3 Continents to Honor George Floyd and Support the Black Lives Matter Movement","description":"Thousands of people rallied in Australia and Europe to honor George Floyd and to voice support Saturday for what is becoming an international Black Lives Matter movement","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9jFl8B0e/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-06-06T20:50:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9jFl8B0e.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/","duration":"PT1M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5853703/black-lives-matter-banner-seoul/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```