Knife attack on Mark Lippert in revenge for joint US-South Korea military drills?

Mangalore Today News Network

Seoul, Mar 05, 2015:  The man who carried out knife attack on US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, was a pro-North Korean activist and miffed with joint US-South Korea military drills, reports said Thursday.

 

Armed with a 10-inch knife, the assaulter on Wednesday evening lunged at the US ambassador while he was preparing to deliver a speech in downtown Seoul, slashing him on his right cheek and hand, the police said.

According to Yonhap news agency, the assailant who has been identified as 55-year-old Kim Ki-Jong, has in past carried out pro-North Korean activities, the police said.

According to local media reports, the assailant is said to have carried out a similar act in 2010 whe he had hurled a stone at the then Japanese ambassador to Seoul.

According to an AFP report, the 55-year-old attacker is said to head an organisation which leads protests against Japanese claims to a group of small islands controlled by South Korea.

Just a day before carrying out the attack on the US envoy, he had expressed his anger over the joint US-South Korea drills, blaming them to be an obstacle in the resumption of a dialogue between North and South Korea.

The attack on the US envoy comes at a time when US and South Korea have launched their annual joint military exercises this week, causing the North to fume as usual.

In protest, North Korea fired two short-range ballisticmissiles into the Sea of Japan, also warning ’merciless strikes’.

 
Courtesy: Zeenews