U.S. Secretary of State "South Korea's Democratic Resilience, World's Strongest"

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said, "Korea's manifestation of democracy and democratic resilience are the strongest examples in the world."

At a press conference after the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on the 4th local time, Blinken responded to the question of whether holding a democracy summit in Seoul in March was a mistake as a result.

Secretary Blinken welcomed Yoon Suk Yeol's decision to lift the emergency decree, stressing that "our judgment is that all political disagreements should be peaceful and resolved in accordance with the rule of law."

"South Korea is our closest ally and ally in the world," he said, adding that he would continue to closely monitor the situation in South Korea.

Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the first Democratic Summit by inviting global democracies to the United States in December 2021 with the aim of strengthening democracy against authoritarian countries such as Russia, China, and North Korea.

Since then, the Biden administration has co-hosted the second summit with South Korea, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Zambia in March last year, while the third summit, the first outside the United States, was held in Seoul in March by the South Korean government alone.