Moustache Mockery

'Moustache Pete' was a derogatory name given to the old style Sicilian Mafioso crime bosses who had come to the USA in the early 20th century.

Giuseppe "The Clutch Hand" Morello

In Korea, moustaches are also likely to prompt derogatory names ... or at least that's the excuse being given, for the social media attacks being directed at Harry Harris, the US Ambassador to South Korea. 

Ambassador Harry Harris .... Moustache Mocked.

Mr Harris, a retired navy admiral, became Ambassador to the country in 2018, but recently, as with many relationships around the world under the Trump Presidency, tensions have arisen between that country and the US, after demands that South Korea pay more (from about $900m (£689m) to about $5bn) for hosting $28,500 US troops that stop the North Koreans invading.

Moustache Mockery On Streets As Well As Social Media .....

However, instead of diplomatic representations to the US, this provoked personal attacks on the US ambassador centred on his moustache. To some South Koreans, a moustache evokes memories of the harsh Japanese colonial rule over the country, from 1910 until 1945. It doesn't help matters that Mr Harris is  the son of a US Navy officer and a Japanese mother ... this mixed heritage has reinforced the image issue. A fact recognised by Mr Harris ...

"My moustache, for some reason, has become a point of some fascination here," Mr Harris said. "I have been criticised in the media here, especially in social media, because of my ethnic background, because I am a Japanese-American."

In Parallel with the tensions between the US and South Korea, there has also been a flare up of the tensions between the South Koreans and Japan. In November 2018, a South Korean court ruled that Japanese firms have to pay compensation to Koreans over forced labour during World War Two. In response, in August 2019, Japan announced it was going to remove South Korea's favoured trade partner status.

Japanese Rulers Of Korea Had Moustaches ....

So the moustache has come to symbolise both disputes ... he has been ridiculed for not being an ambassador, but a governor-general ... according to The Korea Times, which also stated that the moustache "has become associated with the latest US image of being disrespectful and even coercive toward Korea". However, many agree with Mr Harris that its Mr Harris's Japanese heritage and a form of racism that's the issue. Moustaches were worn by nearly all regional leaders in the 1930's and 1940's so were not peculiar to just the Japanese.

Mr Harris has refused to cut off his lip adornment, and while recognising Korean sensitivities over the Japanese occupation of their country, said that the moustache would remain unless someone convinced him it was "viewed in a way that hurts our relationship".