A man opposed to joint South Korean-U.S. military drills attacked the American ambassador in Seoul, slashing his face and arm as he was about to give a speech Thursday morning.
North Korea quickly called the stabbing a "knife attack of justice" and said it reflected "anti-U.S. sentiment" in South Korea.
The U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was in stable condition after undergoing more than two hours of surgery in which he got 80 stitches to his face. He will probably remain hospitalized for three to four days, said Dr. Jung Nam-shik at Yonsei Severance Hospital.
Police identified the suspect as Kim Ki-Jong, a 55-year-old man with a history of unpredictable behavior.
In 2010, he received a suspended two-year prison sentence for throwing a piece of concrete at a Japanese ambassador to South Korea, according to the Yonhap news agency.
U.S. ambassador: Eighty stitches and two hours of surgery 01:38
The motive for his attack Thursday? He wanted an end to the South Korean-U.S. military drills to improve North-South relations, police said. The drills are held annually despite predictably harsh criticism from North Korea.
The North Korean government believes the attack is "just punishment for U.S. warmongers," according to its official news agency, KCNA.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye, on the other hand, condemned it.
"This incident is not only a physical attack on the U.S. ambassador," she said, "but an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance and it can never be tolerated.
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