Foreign Secretary confirms refusal to receive phone calls from U.S. ambassadors on martial law day

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol was found not to have answered the phone of U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg, who contacted President Yoon Suk Yeol on the same day he declared a state of emergency.

Minister Cho acknowledged that he did not intentionally answer Ambassador Goldberg's phone call on the day of martial law when asked by Cho Kuk, a member of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, in an urgent question at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the emergency martial law.

At the same time, he explained why he didn't answer the phone, saying that the situation turned too quickly and that he didn't want to lead the United States wrong with misjudgment and situation judgment.Judging from the response of Minister

, it is interpreted that the U.S. tried to grasp the situation through the ambassador to Korea on the day of martial law's declaration, but there was no immediate communication.

In this regard, Kim Joon-hyung, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, claimed that Ambassador Goldberg reported to his home country to the effect of "not being able to meet with the people of the Yoon Suk Yeol government" because he could not contact Minister Cho on the day of martial law.

The U.S. Embassy in Korea said Kim's remarks were not true at all.