South Korean president's surprise martial law move catches US officials off-guard
South Korean leaderʼs quick martial-law declaration and reversal creates diplomatic stir. US top officials confirm they werent informed beforehand raising questions about communication between allies
In a surprising turn-of-events President Yoon Suk Yeol made a short-lived martial-law declaration about two days ago which caught US officials completely un-prepared
The top-ranking US diplomat Antony Blinken spoke from Brussels yesterday: he plans to talk with his South-Korean partner soon. “We were not aware“ Blinken stated plainly adding that its normal for partners to make independent choices (even though US keeps 28‚500 troops in South-Korea)
We learned about this from the announcement on television‚ the same way the rest of the world did
The declaration which aimed to stop “anti-state forces“ didnt last long: about 190 parliament-members voted against it and street-protesters showed up near the building. This event — the biggest challenge to SK democracy since the 80s made Washington worried
Sullivan shared his thoughts at a DC think-tank meeting; South-Koreas democracy stays strong despite this shake-up: its important to keep working with their government through proper channels. The whole situation needs to follow legal rules and stay peaceful‚ he noted
