Knife attack on US envoy in Seoul

Washington/Seoul, March 5

US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was today attacked at a public function in Seoul by a blade-wielding man who slashed him while shouting out demands for a unified Korea, an assault that left the envoy hospitalised with 80 stitches to his face.

Lippert, 42, was in stable condition after undergoing more than two hours of surgery following the attack in which he was slashed on the face and wrist. North Korea quickly called the stabbing a “knife attack of justice,” and said it reflected “anti-US sentiment” in South Korea.

Pyongyang called the attack “just punishment for US warmongers,” according to its official news agency, KCNA. South Korean President Park Geun-hye, however, condemned the incident.

“This incident is not only a physical attack on the US ambassador, but an attack on the South Korea-US alliance and it can never be tolerated,” she said.

Lippert will likely remain hospitalised for three to four days, Dr Jung Nam-shik at Yonsei Severance Hospital in Seoul said. Police identified the suspect as Kim Ki-Jong, a 55-year-old man with a history of unpredictable behaviour.

Kim attacked Lippert while screaming a slogan in favour of reunifying the divided Korean peninsula and later also shouted his opposition to joint US-South Korean military exercises that began on Monday. — PTI