The State Department ordered the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea to remove flags it had put up on its exterior in support of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ Pride.
CNN reports: “Senior State Department leadership asked the embassy in Seoul to take down the Black Lives Matter sign that Ambassador Harry Harris had hung from the building's façade Saturday, according to a source familiar with the issue. A spokesman for the embassy confirmed to CNN that the large Pride flag has also come down. The request from the department's 7th floor — where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's offices are located — cited as its reason the fact that Black Lives Matter is a non-profit organization and that the US government does not encourage contributions to the group or promote any specific organization, the source said. It is not clear why the Pride flag — which was hung in late May, according to the embassy's Facebook page — was removed and no explanation has been offered yet.”
Last year, the Trump administration banned Pride flags at embassies.
Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News last year: ““I'm aware that the State Department indicated that on the flagpole of our American embassies, that one flag should fly and that's the American flag and I support that. As the president said on the night that we were elected, we're proud to serve every American and we both feel that way very passionately, but when it comes to the American flagpole at American embassies in capitals around the world having the one American flag fly I think is the right decision and we put no restrictions on displaying any other flags or any other displays at our embassies beyond that.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the same position.
