#mark lippert

[elisegoeseast]

US ambassador Mark Lippert is among the dozens of Obama-appointed diplomats to be headed home this week. He sat for an exit interview with Morning Edition tonight, which will air Thursday morning in the US.

[koogletv]

The plastic surgeon who performed surgery on the top U.S. envoy in Seoul last month will fly to Nepal to treat earthquake victims, a non-profit organization said Thursday. Yoo Dae-hyun, who closed the gashes left on Ambassador Mark Lippert's face and arm after a sudden knife attack last month, will be flying to the quake-stricken country Monday, Global Care, which is organizing the trip, said.

[koogletv]

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert held a party at his residence in central Seoul on Saturday to celebrate his son's first 100 days.  Lippert made headlines by giving his son the Korean middle name Sejun. The Korean-style ceremony featured flowers, candles and brassware. James William Sejun Lippert wore traditional Korean costume and greeted guests in his mother's arms. 

[koogletv]

The man who slashed the U.S. ambassador in Seoul last month said Thursday he was proud he reduced the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day.  Kim Ki-jong was arrested on March 5 immediately after he attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast meeting in Seoul. More than 80 stitches were required to close the gashes on the envoy's face and wrist. Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.

[koogletv]

Police officers Ryu Jae-hoon and Kim Kyung-ho each received a personal thank-you card from U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert for helping him after he was attacked by a slasher on March 5.  “Your quick and decisive action in transporting me to Gangbuk Samsung Hospital helped to prevent what could have been a far worse scenario," Lippert wrote. "On behalf of my family, the embassy of the United States in Seoul, and the government of the United States of America, thank you again."

[koogletv]

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert will be holding a party at his residence in central Seoul on April 25 to celebrate his son's first 100 days. The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday said Lippert sent out invitations to friends here with a photo of the baby saying that gifts or flowers are not necessary. 

[koogletv]

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert is attracting attention with an unusual brace on his left arm after being treated for wounds sustained in a knife attack last month. The exoskeletal appearance of the brace has prompted some commentary online, and Lippert posted a message on Facebook recently describing the brace.

[seoulmann]

Ambassador Lippert Followup

A month ago, the American ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was attacked by Kim Ki-jong with a 10-inch blade. Kim was opposed to the annual military exercises that the US armed forces and the South Korean military do every year.

Ambassador Lippert is doing okay now and he is back to work. I’ll talk about a couple reactions and issues that arose from this horrible attack.

Ambassador Lippert and the USA

Mark Lippert has been strikingly calm about the whole situation. I heard reports that he was far from panicked after he got cut. He calmly made his way to the exit so that he could get to the ambulance. Lippert has also made a couple statements about how the attack couldn’t hurt the “unbreakable bond” between the USA and South Korea. And within a couple weeks, he was seemingly back on his daily routine. There are pictures of him walking around Seoul with his wife, his dog, and a sweet new Wolverine hand, without any security in sight (although, to be fair, they might just be out of the photo’s frame).

The state department made an official condemnation of the assault on the ambassador, which seems like pretty standard protocol. That being said, the US had a pretty level-headed response to the situation. I heard some people online jokingly calling it Seoulgazi. But the US government refrained from calling this an act of terrorism, even though Kim has supposed links to North Korea. The US government called it an “attack”. Everyone understands that Kim doesn’t represent South Korea or the South Korean people in any way.

President Park Geun-hye and South Korean politics

President Park was in the Middle East at the time of the attack. Add this to the long lost of bad things that have had a habit of happening while she is overseas. 

The Saenuri, the South Korean conservative party and the current ruling party in Korea, was in seemingly total panic in the hours after the assault, especially since President Park was outside of the country at the time. The Saenuri is the more pro-US party in Korea, so clearly they didn’t want anything to damage the US-ROK alliance. The spokesman for the Saenuri called the attack an act of terrorism. He said that any attack on the US ambassador is a direct attack on the US-ROK alliance. I’m willing to bet that there will be no light punishment for this guy. The Saenuri is going to make an example of him to prevent other people from making this sort of attack.

The department of foreign affairs has promised to provide security guards to ambassadors. The police have also promised to provide more security, even when it isn’t requested. Generally, South Korea is considered a low-risk post for embassies, so they don’t typically have a strong force of body guards keeping watch. Before this attack, Ambassador Lippert would have had to request security, rather than it being automatically given.

There was a real fear in South Korea that this attack would create anti-South-Korea sentiments in America (even though the attack was only talked about for maybe one or two days on the American media, from what I saw). There was also a worry that people would think South Korea was a dangerous country.

There is also a concern that Seoul may feel the need to give some concessions on global political issues. The Saenuri party feels this is a concern, because America has been acting as a sort-of arbiter between Japan and South Korea over what happened in World War 2 and the whole Dokdo issue.

Meanwhile, the South Korean liberal party, the New Politics Alliance for Democrazy (NPAD), was upset with the Saenuri for politicizing the attack. The NPAD argued that Kim was a lone figure and did not receive any orders from North Korea or any pro-North Korea group to attack the ambassador. To be fair, the Saenuri were kind of trying to make it seem like people like Kim are associated with the NPAD, going so far as to ask the liberal party to write a letter of repentance apologizing for the attack.

The South Korean people were very supportive of Ambassador Lippert and shared their concerns and prayers all over Twitter and Facebook. There was also a group of people hanging out outside of the embassy with signs showing support for the American ambassador.

Kim Ki-jong’s North Korea Ties

In the past decade, Kim has taken a couple trips up to North Korea, which I didn’t even know was possible for a South Korea citizen. He also had pro-North Korea books in his house, which is a crime in South Korea under the National Security Law.

After the attack, North Korea praised the attack, calling it “deserved punishment and an act of justice” and “a righteous act”. My own personal belief: if North Korea says you did something good, you should probably have done the opposite.

During the investigation into the attack, the police were interrogating Kim. He said that Kim Il-sung (the founder and first leader of North Korea) was a great leader. When asked if there were any good South Korean leaders, he said “no.” And he tried to set up an altar in Seoul after Kim Jong-il’s death. The investigation into his phone records also found that Kim had contacted convicted North Korean spies before the attack.

The Charges

Kim has been charged with attempted murder, assault on a foreign diplomat and “business obstruction” (whatever that means). During their investigation, the National Security Agency was trying to gather evidence to accuse him of breaking the National Security Law, but they dropped those charges.

Kim had denied that he had tried to kill the ambassador, which seems absurd to me. Slicing someone’s face with a knife and giving them 80 stitches isn’t exactly a good way to avoid killing someone.