Sullivan said, "I made a mistake in declaring martial law in Korea...Korea-U.S. alliance is healthy in the long run"

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he believes South Korea will overcome the current crisis well and diagnosed the South Korea-U.S. alliance as being incredibly healthy in the long run.

Sullivan said at a press conference that he thought Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law was shocking and wrong and that he now sees it going according to constitutional procedures.

Sullivan said he hopes the ongoing process will be done in accordance with the Constitution, without violence, and stressed that he believes South Korea will emerge from the situation as a stronger democratic country that continues to commit to the Korea-U.S. alliance.

As for the second Trump administration's South Korea-U.S. alliance, Sullivan said he does not know where the new team will take the South Korea-U.S. alliance, but he thinks the South Korea-U.S. alliance is ready for success despite the political turmoil in South Korea.

Regarding the North Korean issue, he said that he did not expect substantial progress on the Korean Peninsula issue like his predecessors since former President Bill Clinton, adding that the North Korean issue is going in the wrong direction as in other presidents.

Sullivan said the North Korean issue was and remains serious when Obama or former President Trump left the White House, but that the U.S. and its allies are better placed in responding to and deterring North Korean threats militarily.

When asked about the possibility of North Korea using South Korea's political turmoil to provoke, he said he could not predict exactly what North Korea would do, but he certainly thought there was a risk.

He also said that from a U.S. perspective, it is in the U.S. security interest that Korea's political crisis is resolved as soon as possible under the Korean Constitution.