The US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was hospitalized after he was attacked in broad daylight at a breakfast meeting Thursday morning in Seoul, according to media reports.
Ambassador Lippert was assaulted as he was preparing to give a lecture about prospects for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.A 55-year-old pro-North Korea activist Kim Ki-jong was arrested immediately after the attack, Al Jazeera reported.
Police say the man was a member of the pro-Korean reunification group that organized the breakfast meeting on Thursday. Just before the ambassador was about to give a speech, Kim reportedly pushed Lippert from behind onto a table and started slashing him with a 10-inch knife, police confirmed. Kim sustained injuries on his foot in the fight.
Witnesses and police said Kim used a fruit knife in the attack, which took place inside a large government arts centre across the street from the heavily guarded US embassy on the South Korean capital's main ceremonial thoroughfare.
Sources told Al Jazeera that Kim is the head of a relatively small civic organization that has been calling for peace and reconciliation with North Korea.In 2010, Kim tried to attack the Japanese ambassador to Seoul by throwing a piece of concrete and was given a suspended jail term,according to police.
From its side the US embassy said Lippert was in stable condition after surgery at a Seoul hospital. Hours after the attack Lippert tweeted that he was "doing well and in great spirits".
Source:Al Jazeera
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