U.S. Forces Korea bans all use of Confederate flag

U.S. Forces Korea has become the latest arm of the American military to ban all use of the Confederate flag.

In a memo released Sunday night, Army Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the flag represents to many armed service members “a painful reminder of the hate, bigotry, treason and devaluation of humanity.”

The move follows similar steps taken by the Marine Corps and Navy to bar the Confederate flag from vehicles, clothing and elsewhere across the services.

“It has the power to inflame feelings of racial division. We cannot have that division among us,” Gen. Abrams wrote. “I direct all commanders to identify and ensure the removal of all display of the Confederate Battle Flag or its depiction within workplaces, common-access areas, and public areas on USFK installations.”

The order applies to vehicles, aircraft, conference rooms, gyms, cafeterias, workshops, barracks and other possible avenues in which the flag could be displayed.

The Confederate flag has become a flashpoint in both the military and U.S. society as a whole in the weeks following the death of George Floyd, a black man, during a confrontation with Minneapolis police last month. Some state and local governments also have taken steps to remove the flag from government grounds. Influential members of Congress have mounted similar efforts at the federal level, taking aim at both the flag and statues of prominent Confederacy leaders.

But the campaign to remove the flag has set up a coming clash with President Trump.

Military leaders have said they’re open to removing the names of Confederate generals from 10 Army bases across the country. The president, however, has vowed that will not happen under his watch.