U.S. White House to "openly speak out on strengthening democracy in South Korea"

2024.12.05. AM 06:06
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[Anchor]
The U.S. White House has said it will make a public voice to emphasize the importance of democracy in connection with the martial law crisis in South Korea.

The U.S. Secretary of State also said South Korea's democracy resilience is the strongest in the world and that he will wait and see what happens thereafter.

I'll connect to Washington to find out more about it.

Correspondent Kwon Jun-ki

The White House has expressed its position to speak out to strengthen democracy in Korea?

[Reporter]
Yes, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan answered a question about the martial law situation in South Korea during a think tank meeting.

Sullivan called Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law a warning to everywhere, including Washington in the United States.

At the same time, he emphasized that he saw the democratic system work in Korea after the martial law crisis and that he would continue to speak out to emphasize its importance.

Let's listen to it for ourselves.

[Jake Sullivan / National Security Adviser] What we want to see is that Korea's democratic system works properly, and we've seen this process work even after a rather dramatic declaration of martial law, which has been a wake-up call everywhere, including the United States.]

Korea's democracy is solid and resilient. We will continue to speak out publicly and communicate privately with our dialogue counterparts in Korea to strengthen their importance.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken also said South Korea has the strongest democratic resilience in the world and will see if it sets such an example again this time.

[Anchor]
The U.S. media is also rapidly reporting on the situation since the impeachment motion against President Yoon?

[Reporter]
Yes, the New York Times reported that Yoon's political fate became uncertain as opposition lawmakers filed a motion to impeach him and protesters demanded his resignation.

However, he introduced the distribution of seats in the Korean National Assembly, which is a small opposition party, and said that the impeachment bill cannot be passed if all the people vote against it.

The Washington Post also predicted that there are quite a few obstacles to impeachment, but it is clear that President Yoon's political future is uncertain.

At the same time, he mentioned that voluntary resignation or expulsion by impeachment could develop in the future.

The Wall Street Journal said the motion for impeachment caused greater political instability in close U.S. allies, adding that Yoon's fate hinges on the legal question of whether martial law declaration can be justified.

[Anchor]
How do experts forecast what will happen after martial law?

[Reporter]
Yes, CNN interviewed Robert Kelly, a professor at Pusan National University, who predicted a strong aftermath, saying the declaration of martial law did not meet the criteria.

In particular, he said in an interview that it would be surprising if President Yoon did not resign or be impeached.

Let's listen to it.

[Robert Kelly / Professor of Political Science at Pusan National University (CNN Interview): I actually feel a bit sorry. Although the opposition party has bothered me a little unnecessarily, martial law is such an over-reaction that I'd be surprised if he didn't resign or get impeached.]

Sidney Seiler, a former North Korean official at the U.S. National Intelligence Commission, predicted that North Korea is unlikely to use the incident to launch provocations.

The reason is that if you make a provocation, it will rather be in favor of President Yoon.

[Sydney Seiler / Former U.S. National Intelligence Commission North Korea official: North Korea's provocations will favor and help President Yoon. North Korea's attempts to exploit this situation could undermine everything else they are focused on.]

The Washington Post published an analysis of whether martial law would be possible in the United States ahead of Trump's inauguration, and observed that the possibility cannot be ruled out as the Republican Party won the majority in Congress.

So far, I've delivered it from Washington.



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