US envoy attacker to be tried for murder, says South Korea
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South Korean police vowed yesterday to press on with attempted murder charges against the man who injured US ambassador Mark Lippert in a knife attack, despite the assailant’s denial that he intended to kill.
Doctors said Lippert, 42, was recovering well from Thursday’s assault by nationalist Kim Ki-jong, which left the envoy requiring surgery to repair deep gashes to his face and hand.
District police chief Yun Myeong-seong said Kim, 55, had revealed under questioning that he had prepared two weapons for the attack — the knife and a razor which he didn’t use.
“He said he had... no intention to kill,” Yun told reporters. “But given the deep wounds on the ambassador’s face and arms and the fact that Kim chose the kitchen knife instead of a razor, we believe that he clearly had an intention to murder.”
Kim, who has a previous conviction for hurling a rock at the then Japanese ambassador in 2010, was formally charged with attempted murder on Friday.
Yun said police were also analyzing books and other materials found at his home as part of an investigation into Kim’s possible links with North Korea. Kim had visited North Korea seven times and once tried to erect a memorial in Seoul to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il after his death in 2011.
Kim has said he attacked Lippert as a protest against ongoing South-United States army drills, which he blamed for souring inter-Korean relations.
The annual drills have been condemned by Pyongyang as rehearsals for invasion.
Kim has insisted he acted alone, and North Korea has accused the South of launching a “vicious” smear campaign to tie its leadership to the attack.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited Lippert in hospital yesterday after returning from an overseas tour.
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