The U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, is still recovering from a knife attack in Seoul. North Korea praised the attack, which it called a “knife attack of justice.”
Lippert was speaking at a breakfast meeting to discuss the U.S.-South Korean alliance Thursday morning. Just as he was seated, a man with a 10-inch kitchen knife attacked him, while screaming about unifying North and South Korea, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Lippert had to receive over 80 stitches for a gash on his right cheek. His left arm and fingers were cut as well.
CNN reports that police identified the suspect as Kim Ki-Jong, 55. He has a history of bizarre behavior, including a 2010 attack of the Japanese ambassador to South Korea. His motive was reportedly to get South Korea and the U.S. to stop their joint military drills, which North Korea consistently oppose.
North Korean media reported that the Pyongyang government called the attack “just punishment for U.S. warmongers.”
“This incident is not only a physical attack on the U.S. ambassador, but an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance and it can never be tolerated,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a statement.
Lippert tweeted that he is “doing well” and is “in great spirits.”
Lippert is a longtime associate of President Barack Obama’s, working with him when he was still in the Senate on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also worked as the chief foreign policy advisor for Obama’s first presidential campaign.
screenshot from CNN YouTube video