U.S. Ambassador To South Korea Injured By Knife-Wielding Assailant

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - MAR. 5: U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was attacked and injured by a knife-wielding man in downtown Seoul on Thursday morning, but the U.S. State Department said his injuries are not life threatening. The assailant, reportedly a pro-North Korea South Korean civic activist, assaulted Lippert at around 7:40 a.m. shortly after the envoy had arrived at a lecture hall to give a speech, wounding him in the right cheek and left wrist with a 25-centimeter fruit knife, police said. The suspect, identified as 55-year-old Kim Ki Jong, was immediately arrested, while Lippert, seen bleeding profusely in photos taken at the scene, was rushed to a nearby hospital. "We strongly condemn this act of violence," the U.S. State Department said in a statement. "The ambassador is being treated at a local hospital. His injuries are not life threatening." While being put into a police car after the attack, Kim reportedly shouted his opposition to joint South Korea-U.S. military drills that began earlier this week. North Korea has demanded the annual drills be canceled. Yonhap News Agency reported that Kim, who heads a group that protests Japan's claims to a pair of South Korean-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan, received a suspended two-year prison term in July 2010 for throwing a piece of concrete at the Japanese ambassador to Seoul. Lippert was about to make a speech at an event organized by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, a civic organization that promotes inter-Korean reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. The 42-year-old took up his post last year as the youngest-ever U.S. ambassador to South Korea. He is a former assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.