South Korea’s most controversial mustache has fallen victim to the razor blade, with US Ambassador Harry Harris visiting a barber shop months after his facial hair became the subject of unusual criticism.
Seoul and Washington are security allies and the U.S. stations 28,500 troops in the country, but their relationship has been affected in recent years by differences in their approaches to North Korea and cost-sharing responsibilities.
Harris has been the subject of controversy on several occasions in the South and accused in some sectors of high presumption. Even his facial hair became a matter of debate.
The envoy’s mother was Japanese and, with Koreans resentful of the colonization of the Tokyo Peninsula in 1910-45, commentators claimed that the mustache alluded to the fashion of the imperial governors-general of the time.
In January, Harris replied that his preparation was a matter of personal choice, and that his critics were “a cherry picking story.”
But over the weekend, she uploaded a video to social media of him shaving his mustache at a traditional Korean barbershop, saying he did it to stay cool in the Seoul summer, while wearing a mask to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Embassy of the United States in Seoul
(@USEmbassySeoul)With the help of his senior advisor @sykimsy, @USAmbROK Harris visited a classic local barber shop to get a little “cooler” during the hot summer months. Are you curious to know how it was? Watch the video for more information. pic.twitter.com/cpabketRfd
July 25, 2020
“I’m glad I did this,” the envoy said in tweets in English and Korean. “For me it was keeping the ‘stache’ or losing the mask. Summer in Seoul is too hot and humid for both of them. Covid guidelines are important and I am a masked man!
Seoul and Tokyo are America’s top allies, democracies, and market economies that face regional challenges from China and a nuclear-armed North Korea, but are caught up in bitter disputes over historical issues.
Earlier this year, Harris said, “I understand the historical animosity that exists between the two countries, but I am not the Japanese-American ambassador to Korea, I am the American ambassador to Korea.
“And take that story and put it on simply because a birth accident I think is a mistake.”
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