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The U.S. Ambassador to South Korea has been hospitalized after a knife-wielding man attacked him in broad daylight at a breakfast meeting Thursday morning in Seoul.
Korean media reports that someone
yelled ‘North Korea and South Korea should be unified’ and ‘No to war
training!’ before a bloodied Ambassador Mark Lippert was seen leaving the
Sejong performing-arts center around 7:40am local time.
The attacker appears to have slashed
Lippert on the right cheek and left wrist. The State Department says the
injuries are non-life-threatening and that Lippert is in stable condition after
undergoing surgery at a nearby hospital. ‘It is regrettable that an incident
like this took place,’ South Korean Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo said after the
attack.
A 55-year-old ‘pro-North Korea
activist’ name Kim Ki-jong was arrested immediately after the attack, and video
shows the suspect in a salmon colored jacket being wrestled to the ground.
Police say the man was a member of
the pro-Korean reunification group that organized the breakfast meeting on
Thursday.
Just before the ambassador was about
to give a speech, Kim reportedly pushed Lippert from behind onto a table and
started slashing him with a 10-inch knife, police confirmed. Kim injured his
foot in the fight.
Kim reportedly voiced opposition to
the the annual joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises which started Monday.
The attack comes just days after North Korea fired missiles into the Sea of
Japan in response to the drills.
Chung Nam-sick of Severance Hospial
says it took 80 stitches to close the 4-inches long and 1-inch deep wond to
Ambassador Lippert’s face.
While there was no nerve or gland
damage from the face gash, the knife apparently cut nerves connected to
Lippert’s pinkie and thumb when Kim struck his left hand.
Nam-sik says Lippert will remain at
the hospital for three to four days and could experience sensory issues with
his left hand for several months.
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