An anti-US activist arrested last week for allegedly stabbing US Ambassador Mark Lippert had intended to kill the envoy to highlight his protest against ongoing US-South Korean military drills, police said yesterday.
The suspect, Kim Ki-jong, could face charges of attempted murder, assaulting a foreign envoy and obstruction as his case has been sent to prosecutors for possible indictment, senior Seoul police officer Kim Chul-jun said in a televised briefing.
Police say Kim Ki-jong attacked Lippert with a knife during a breakfast forum on Thursday last week that left deep gashes on the envoy’s face and arm. Lippert left a South Korean hospital on Tuesday where doctors closed an 11cm wound on his face and operated on his left arm to repair damaged tendons and nerves.
Kim Ki-jong has told investigators he had no intention of killing Lippert and only tried to hurt him, police said. However, police believe Kim attempted to kill the ambassador because he knifed Lippert more than twice with a force that was enough to penetrate the envoy’s arm as he tried to block the attack, police officer Kim Chul-jun said.
Police said they believe Kim Ki-jong’s anti-US, pro-North Korea views led him to take an “extreme action” on the US ambassador, Kim Chul-jun said.
During questioning, Kim Ki-jong said South Korea is a semi-colony of the US, while North Korea has an independent, self-reliant government, Kim Chul-jun said.
Shortly after his arrest, Kim Ki-jong shouted that the US-South Korea war games are an obstacle to Korean unification, he said.
The South Korean-US springtime training is a source of tension, with North Korea describing it as a rehearsal for an invasion.
Seoul and Washington say that their annual exercises are purely defensive in nature.
Earlier this month, the North’s army threatened to launch unspecified “merciless strikes” against the allies in protest of the drills.
Kim Ki-jong chose Lippert as a target because he considered him “a symbolic figure who represents the US” and his computer records show that he searched Lippert’s blog, articles on the military drills and South Korean criminal law, according to police.
Police said they were investigating whether Kim Ki-jong violated an anti-Pyongyang security law after finding that some of the books found at his home supported North Korea. Police said Kim visited North Korea seven times.
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