Alliance 'transcends any particular president' in wake of martial law: State Department

U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel speaks during a press briefing in Washington on Thursday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
The impeachment process of President Yoon Suk Yeol will be “handled in accordance with the Republic of Korea’s constitution,” the U.S. State Department said on Thursday, emphasizing that the Korea-U.S. alliance “transcends any particular president or government.”
 
Deputy spokesperson for the State Department Vedant Patel made the remarks during a press briefing Thursday, where the first question and many following were about the martial law incident in Korea this week.
 
“We were concerned, are concerned about the situation we saw unfold earlier this week on Dec. 3,” said Patel. “There are many questions that need to be answered regarding the decisions surrounding those developments.”
 
Previously on Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell had assessed that Yoon had “badly misjudged” regarding the martial law declaration, and the critical view of Yoon’s decision was again echoed on Thursday.
 
“The issuance of martial law and then the implications that such a measure would have had for individual rights and liberties certainly is a matter to be taken incredibly seriously,” said Patel.
 
While stressing that the Korea-U.S. alliance “remains rock solid” and that the “American people stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of the Republic of Korea,” Patel also added that “we warn against any provocations or threats to that alliance.”
 
“We’re encouraged by the democratic resilience of the Republic of Korea during a period of testing and, candidly, uncertainty, and we’re continuing to expect that the Republic of Korea’s democratic system and democratic process will prevail,” said Patel.
 

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]