by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday made a surprise visit to the hospital to see U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert, who was knifed in the cheek and wrist by a leftist activist last week.
Lippert has been hospitalized since Thursday at Seoul’s Severance Hospital, where President Park received surgery in 2006 after she was slashed in the face by man wielding a box cutter during an election campaign.
“My heart ached to think that you suffered the same thing,” Park told Lippert during her visit, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Park reportedly called the U.S. envoy from Abu Dhabi on the day of the attack, wishing him a speedy recovery. During Park’s surprise visit, Lippert and his wife said they were moved by the consolations they received the South Korean people and government, according to the Associated Press.
After the attack, Lippert had undergone a two-hour surgery and received 80 stitches on his face. Doctors said Lippert has been recovering faster than expected and may be discharged as early as Tuesday afternoon.
Last Friday, Kim Ki-jong, the assailant, was formally charged with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and obstruction of official duty. The 55-year-old assailant claimed that he attacked Lippert to end the annual joint military drills between South Korea and the U.S. and had no intention of murder.
South Korean media outlets reported that Kim had made seven trips to North Korea between 1999 and 2007. He also tried to build a memorial near Seoul City Hall for the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2011. The South Korean police are now investigating Kim’s links to North Korea.
Meanwhile, North Korea had applauded the attack, calling it a “deserved punishment for U.S. warmongers.”
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Featured image via Yonhap News Agency
