The assailant, Kim Gi-jong, has a long record of violent activism against Japan and in support of union with the North. Before his attack he shouted slogans in favor of unity and against the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. The diplomat was struck in the face, but is not at risk.

Seoul (AsiaNews) - A man armed with a razor attacked the US ambassador to Seoul, Mark Lippert, this morning, shouting slogans in favor of reunification between the north and south of the peninsula.

The diplomat, 42, was hospitalized but his condition is not life threatening: he took the blow in the face, to the right cheek. His assailant was arrested and taken to jail.

Park Geun-hye, the Korean president, called the incident "an attack on the alliance between the United States and South Korea." The US State Department has condemned the incident "in the strongest possible terms", and President Obama wished "all the best" to his representative.

Kim Gi-jong, 55, attacked the ambassador at 7.40 am (local time) in a Seoul arts center where Lippert was having a working lunch. The man, who heads the "Urimadang Dokdo Keepers" shouted several times "North and South should be united" and criticized the annual joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington, which began a few days ago. Then he launched his attack. The event organizers deny having invited him, and claim that he infiltrated the event despite the massive security presence.

It is the first ever attack on a US ambassador in South Korea, despite some South Korean political parties and opinion groups considering that the US presence in the peninsula "the main threat to the stability and security of the nation". There are military bases in the south and on the island of Jeju, which are home to around 35 thousand marines on a permanent basis 

However, it is not the first time that Kim Gi-jong has targeted a foreign diplomat. In 2010 he threw concrete at the then Japanese envoy to Seoul, Toshinori Shigeie. He received 18 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended.

Although the police exclude the man being a paid agent of Pyongyang, between 2006 and 2007 Kim visited North Korea six times. Moreover, at the end of 2011 hesought to build an altar "to the memory of the late Kim Jong-il" in the heart of Seoul - near the Gwanghwamun Square - but was stopped by some passersby and denounced. In 2007, he also tried to set himself on fire in front of the presidential palace in the capital demanding an investigation into an alleged rape that took place in his office in 1998.

His group is committed to responding to Japan over the Dokdo islands dispute. In 2006, Kim changed his address, moving his whole family to the uninhabited islands that are at the centre of disputes with Tokyo, which he calls "Takeshima". However, according to his own supporters in recent months "his priorities have changed", to focus on the alliance between the United States and South Korea.

Lippert, former assistant secretary of defense, was appointed ambassador to Seoul in 2014. His wife gave birth in the Asian country, and the couple gave the child a second Korean name. Before entering the hospital for medical tests, he wanted to meet journalists crowded in the lobby to say he is "good" and that "there is nothing serious happened".

 

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