"Martial law plotting at Lotteria - that's the most ridiculous combination of words that I've seen in my life," an online user wrote on the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

The local hamburger franchise Lotteria was the butt of a surge of memes and other online satire on Thursday, after police investigations revealed that former intelligence commanders met at one of its restaurants in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss martial law plans, two days before President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration on Dec. 3.