Despite Past Anti-American Actions, Attacker was Invited To Event with Ambassador Lippert

Here is what the attacker of US ambassador Mark Lippert is saying after being interrogated by police:

A 55-year-old South Korean activist was taken into custody Friday on charges of attempting to murder the top U.S. diplomat in Seoul.

Kim Ki-jong also faces charges of violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction in the shocking attack on U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert the previous day.

Wielding a 25-centimeter fruit knife, Kim slashed the ambassador five times at a performance hall in downtown Seoul where the envoy was to give a speech. The wounds weren’t life-threatening, but the attack left a deep gash extending from the envoy’s right chin to cheek, requiring more than 80 stitches.

The Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kim, saying “The reason and the necessity of his arrest were fully explained.”

Before entering the court for a hearing to review the legality of his arrest, Kim said he had no ties to North Korea.

“That’s nonsense,” he told reporters when asked about the police investigation into the possibility.

He denied being sympathetic to Pyongyang and having ever been to the country despite police announcements earlier to the contrary.

He also shook his head when asked if he had an intent to kill and said there was no one else involved.

Kim had previously told police officers that he plotted the attack to stop the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises that kicked off earlier this week.

The exercises are part of Seoul and Washington’s efforts to better deter threats from North Korea. Kim said he thought the drills hampered efforts to re-unify the two Koreas as they remain technically at war since the Korean War in the 1950s ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Hwang Sang-hyeon, Kim’s attorney, also said the attack was not premeditated.

In mid-February, Kim received a letter of invitation from the organizer, and it was then he decided to confront the ambassador about the joint military drills, according to Hwang.

“He hadn’t planned on bringing the knife until (Thursday) morning,” Hwang told reporters as he took from a break from police interrogation late Thursday. “He was trying to alarm the U.S. but had nothing personal against the ambassador.” [Yonhap]

Who is their right mind would invite someone like Kim Ki-jong to an event like this with the US ambassador.  This was asking for trouble. It makes me wonder if the event organizer intentionally invited Kim just to cause an incident or it was just total incompetence?