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U.S. Embassy denies Korean lawmaker's claim that ambassador criticized Yoon administration

Published: 11 Dec. 2024, 20:59 Updated: 11 Dec. 2024, 21:49

MICHAEL LEE
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U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg, center, arrives at the signing ceremony for Washington's defense cost-sharing agreement with Seoul at the Foreign Ministry in Jongno District on Nov. 4. [NEWS1]

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul issued a strongly worded statement on Wednesday evening that denied a lawmaker’s recent claim that Ambassador Philip Goldberg had criticized his South Korean counterparts in communications with Washington.

“While we do not reveal details of diplomatic conversations, allegations made in the media by Rep. Kim Joon-hyung regarding supposed comments by U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg are utterly false,” the embassy wrote in a post uploaded to X (formerly Twitter).

Kim, a lawmaker in the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party headed by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, told domestic media the same day that Goldberg had reported to Washington that he could not “deal with” the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Earlier on Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul told the Rebuilding Korea Party chief during a National Assembly hearing that he avoided picking up a phone call from Goldberg on the night that Yoon declared martial law.

The foreign minister told lawmakers he dodged the call because he did not want to “mislead” Washington amid the sudden outbreak of political turmoil in Seoul.

Cho held a meeting with Goldberg late Sunday to discuss efforts to strengthen and maintain their countries’ alliance in the aftermath of the debacle, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

Lawmakers and political observers have raised concerns that the domestic upheaval following Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law could threaten South Korea’s relationship with the United States amid rising tensions with North Korea.

U.S. officials have spent much of the past week reassuring the media that the alliance between Seoul and Washington remains on firm ground.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said at a security conference in California on Saturday that he is “convinced” there is stability in South Korea “from a security standpoint.”

Paparo added that the U.S. military has strengthened surveillance of the North as Washington could not rule out the possibility of Pyongyang engaging in “opportunism” or provocations to take advantage of the ongoing turmoil in Seoul.

Gen. Charles Brown, who serves as the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters aboard an Air Force plane en route to Japan over the weekend that Pentagon officials have maintained “good communications” with their South Korean counterparts since Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law.

Brown was accompanying U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on his 13th and final trip this week to the region as the chief of the Pentagon.

However, Austin is not scheduled to visit South Korea during the trip after Washington planners determined now was not an “appropriate time.”

A White House National Security Council spokesperson said in Washington on Dec. 3 the U.S. government was “relieved” that the South Korean president had backtracked on his “concerning” decision to declare emergency martial law just hours earlier.

The spokesperson also emphasized that “democracy is at the foundation of the U.S.-ROK alliance” and added Washington “will continue to monitor the situation.”

At a separate briefing at the Pentagon earlier the same day, Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the United States “was not notified in advance” about Yoon’s earlier decision in response to a question about whether United States Forces Korea was contacted by the South Korean military that their forces might be engaged in some kind of enforcement of martial law.

Ryder told reporters at the press briefing that the imposition of martial law had “essentially no impact on U.S. forces” or their readiness posture.

In a U.S. State Department briefing on Thursday, deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel emphasized that the South Korea-U.S. alliance “transcends any particular president or government,” but noted that Yoon’s declaration of martial law and its implications for individual rights and liberties “certainly is a matter to be taken incredibly seriously.”

Update, Dec. 11: Reactions from U.S. officials in the aftermath of Yoon's martial law declaration added.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]