.jpeg)
.jpg)
.png)
US ambassador to South Korea injured in knife attack
Witnesses said the attacker shouted demands for North and South Korea to be reunified.
A video grab from local television footage shows Lippert bleeding from the face and hand after an assailant attacked him with a knife
The US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, has been injured by a knife-wielding attacker in Seoul.
Lippert, 42, was attending a breakfast meeting when he was slashed on his face and left hand. He was taken to hospital but his injuries are not life-threatening.
Witnesses said the attacker, a 55-year-old man with a history of militant Korean nationalistic activism, shouted demands for North and South Korea to be reunified.
He was subdued by security officers and arrested.
South Korean President Park Guen-hye said the incident was an "attack on the South Korea-US alliance". The US State Department strongly condemned the incident.
The attack happened at about 07:40 local time, when the ambassador was at a performing arts centre in central Seoul, South Korean police
The assailant reportedly shouted "South and North Korea should be reunified!" before lashing out at the envoy.
The attacker also expressed opposition to annual military exercises held jointly by South Korea and the US, which are currently under way.
North Korea has described the exercises - which involve more than 200,000 troops - as a rehearsal for an invasion and has vowed retaliation.
However, there is no evidence that the attacker was an agent of North Korea, the BBC reports.
