South Korean police said yesterday they are investigating possible links between a knife attack on the US ambassador to Seoul and the assailant’s multiple visits to North Korea, as they also sought to charge him with attempted murder.
US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert needed 80 stitches after his face was slashed at a forum discussing Korean unification in the capital, Seoul, on Thursday. The attack was carried out by a Korean nationalist who said he was protesting against annual US-South Korean military exercises that began this week.
A senior official in the team investigating the attack said police had requested a formal detention warrant, on charges that include attempted murder, for the assailant, identified as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong.
Investigators have established that Kim made seven visits to North Korea between 1999 and 2007.
“We are investigating whether there is any connection between the suspect’s visits to North Korea and the crime committed against the US ambassador,” Yoon Myeong-seong, chief of police in Seoul’s central Jongno District, told reporters.
Most South Koreans have never visited the secretive North. The two states technically remain at war under a truce that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War and a heavily armed border divides the peninsula.
Kim denied yesterday that his actions were connected in any way with North Korea, calling the suggestion “nonsense,” and told reporters he had never been to the North as he left a police station and headed to court for his warrant hearing.
The South Korean Unification Ministry said Kim planted trees near the North Korean city of Kaesong, near the border, during his visits there. The ministry said it had authorized his requests to visit at the time.
Kim also faces charges for assaulting a foreign envoy and obstructing business operations. Police raided his home and office early yesterday looking for evidence of whether he also broke a state security law that bans supporting North Korea.
In 2010, Kim tried to attack the Japanese ambassador to South Korea by throwing a piece of concrete and was given a suspended prison term, police said.
Kim was a member of the pro-unification group that hosted the forum on Thursday.
North Korean state media has said the attack against Lippert was “deserved punishment” for the military drills, calling the assault “the knife of justice.”
The South Korean Unification Ministry condemned the statement as “senseless.”
The South Korean government ordered increased security for diplomatic missions, including the US embassy, and police said they were providing protection for Lippert.
Lippert was accompanied by a bodyguard when the attack took place on Thursday. Police were also present, although not at the request of the US embassy or the organizers.
The US is South Korea’s closest ally and maintains a military presence that includes 28,500 personnel. That has drawn protest and criticism from some in South Korea in the past, but public opposition has eased in recent years.
Lippert is recovering in a Seoul hospital and has said he is in “good spirits.”
Doctors at Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital said Lippert was likely to remain there until early next week, when they plan to remove his stitches.
Lippert underwent surgery on Thursday for an 11cm gash on the right side of his face and a puncture wound on his left wrist that caused nerve damage, which was repaired.
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