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US ambassador's attacker faces attempted murder charge

TOKYO, March 6 (KUNA) -- South Korean police have requested an arrest warrant for a South Korean man on attempted murder charges for slashing US Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert's face and wrist, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday.
None of the wounds were critical, and Lippert was well on his way to recovery, according to Severance Hospital where the envoy underwent surgery. It was the first time a US envoy in Seoul has been attacked.
The knife-wielding assailant, identified as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, was also behind the first-ever assault on a foreign envoy in Seoul when he threw a rock at a Japanese ambassador in Seoul in 2010.
Police said the arrest warrant was requested for charges of attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction. A special investigation team comprised of nearly 100 prosecutors and police officers will be led by the anti-terrorism bureau of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked the South Korean authorities to share information on the investigation. Kim had told officers that he plotted the attack to stop the South Korea-US joint military 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 progress in inter-Korean reconciliations. The two Koreas remain technically at war since the Korean War in the 1950s ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. A preliminary probe has shown that Kim had been to North Korea seven times between 1999 and 2007. (end) mk.gta