Documents declassified by the government on Monday show the United States expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Korean military coup in December 1979.

According to the documents, then-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke summoned South Korean Ambassador to Washington Kim Yong-shik two days after the coup to convey concerns about the coup led by Army strongman Chun Doo-hwan.

The U.S. official warned that disruption in the military command structure following the coup may allow North Korean leader Kim Il-sung to pull off a military provocation which, in turn, would trigger negative opinions within the U.S. about South Korea.

The U.S. ambassador in Seoul, at the time, also told the South Korean foreign minister that the U.S. military was very unhappy with the coup and that such a feeling was shared by the commander of U.S. Forces in Korea, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House.