Man Who Slashed US Ambassador to Korea Charged with Attempted Murder

This should come as no surprise that the man who slashed US Ambassador Mark Lippert was a radical leftist inspired by North Korean propaganda:

The South Korean man who slashed the top U.S. envoy to Seoul earlier this year committed the crime after being influenced by North Korea’s propaganda, police said Tuesday.

Kim Ki-jong attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast function at a cultural center in central Seoul on March 5, leaving the US ambassador with deep gashes on his face and arm that needed more than 80 stitches to close.

Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.

On Tuesday, police brought an additional charge of violating South Korea’s National Security Law that prohibits citizens from supporting or praising North Korea.

Police said Kim’s alleged attempt to kill Lippert was inspired by North Korea’s propaganda that incited the killing of the U.S. envoy.

North Korea has hailed Kim as a hero, comparing him to Ahn Joong-keun, a renowned anti-Japanese independence fighter revered in both Koreas. Still, North Korea has disavowed its involvement in the attack, which South Korean officials called “an act of terrorism.”

Police also said books and other materials confiscated from Kim’s home support North Korea’s strategy of communizing South Korea.

In April, he told the first session of his pretrial at a court that he did not try to murder the ambassador and that he was proud he reduced the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day.  [Yonhap]

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