Ishiba said, "Korean martial law, please pay close attention..."Nothing has been decided on in Korea."

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he is paying special attention to the emergency martial law situation in Korea.

Prime Minister Ishiba said at the prime minister's residence today that he is not in a position to talk about the internal affairs of other countries regarding Korea's emergency martial law.

Regarding the safety of Japanese in Korea, he said, "We are taking possible measures such as immediately sending consular e-mails," stressing that he will continue to do his best to ensure the safety of Japanese.

He added that there have been no reports of Japanese damage so far.

Prime Minister Ishiba said nothing has been set in detail regarding the report on coordination of his visit to Seoul in January next year.

At the same time, Ken Nakatani, Japan's defense minister who has been seeking to visit Korea this month, said this morning that he would watch the situation with special interest in the emergency situation in South Korea.