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N. Korea applauds attack on US Ambassador to S. Korea

March 5, 2015

South Korean men watch a TV news program reporting U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert injured in a knife attack at Seoul railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 5, 2015. Lippert was slashed on the face and wrist by a man wielding a weapon with a 10-inch blade and screaming that the rival Koreas should be unified, South Korean police said. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — North Korea hailed a South Korean man’s attack on the U.S. ambassador to Seoul Thursday, saying it was “deserved punishment” for a warmonger such as the United States.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency released the remarks in a dispatch hours after a pro-North Korean activist cut Amb. Mark Lippert on the face and wrist during a breakfast function in downtown Seoul.

The dispatch, titled “Deserved punishment for warmonger United States,” said the assailant, Kim Ki-jong, gave a “knife shower of justice” to the envoy in a reflection of South Korean public sentiment that condemns the U.S. for raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula through joint military exercises with Seoul.

Kim, who was arrested on the spot, shouted his opposition to the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military exercises that started Monday. The exercises are part of Seoul and Washington’s efforts to better deter threats from North Korea.

Lippert was reported to be in stable condition after undergoing surgery at a nearby hospital.