U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was injured on
Thursday in a knife-wielding attack by a South Korean male
assailant. The attacked shouted opposition to the ongoing U.S.-South
Korea annual joint war games. Lippert, U.S. ambassador to Seoul
took office in 2014 as the youngest envoy for the post.
He was slashed in his cheek and hand with a knife blade at about
7:40 a.m. local time when he was preparing for a lecture at a
venue in Sejong Cultural Center in central Seoul. The assailant,
Kim Ki-jong, 55, was head of a South Korean progressive cultural
activity group. In July 2010, Kim received a suspended two-year jail
term for throwing two pieces of concrete at the Japanese
ambassador to Seoul.
While being arrested, Kim shouted his strong opposition to “war
exercises,” apparently indicating the South Korea-U.S. annual military
exercises code-named “Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle” that kicked
off on Monday. Lippert was quickly taken to a nearby hospital to
receive treatment on his cut in right part of his face and on the
left hand.
When newsmen asked him the reason behind the attack the assailant
said that the U.S. would “restore its reason” by his act. Kim added
that the South Korea-U.S. war games have prevented Korean
families, separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, from being
reunited. He said he did the right thing as he has protested against
war in the past 30 years.
The White House condemned the act of violence, saying that Obama
had called Lippert and wished him speedy recovery. It was the first
attack against a U.S. ambassador to South Korea as concerns
spread that such an act of violence may worsen the South Korea-
U.S. alliance. Worries recently emerged over ties between Seoul and
Washington as comments by U.S. Undersecretary of State, Wendy
Sherman, on South Korea-Japan relations raised controversy.
Sherman said on Friday that it would not be hard for “a political
leader anywhere to earn cheap applause by vilifying a former enemy,
” referring to frosty relations between South Korea and Japan. Her
comments were interpreted as the U.S. taking sides with Japan on
the issue on wartime history shared by Seoul and Tokyo. The attack
on the U.S. envoy represented an anti-American sentiment shared by
some South Koreans that hostile U.S. policy on the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) may delay the two Koreas’
reunification.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/u-s-ambassador-to-s-korea-injured-in-knife-attack/

This is serious. Unfortunately, the suspect refused to give his reasons for his actions. I hope to read U.S. words on this issue.