'Doing well': Ambassador says he'll be back after knife attack in S. Korea

Mark Lippert was in stable condition after a man screaming demands for a unified North and South Korea slashed him on the face and wrist with a knife. The attack happened at a performing arts center in downtown Seoul as the ambassador was preparing for a lecture about the prospects for peace on the divided Korean peninsula. Media images showed a stunned-looking Lippert examining his blood-covered left hand and holding his right hand over a cut on the right side of his face, his pink tie splattered with blood. Doctors said that he had a gash on his face an inch deep and that the knife penetrated his left arm and damaged nerves connected to his pinkie and tendons connected to his thumb. Lippert issued a short statement via Twitter.

Doing well and in great spirits! Robyn, Sejun, Grigsby and I — deeply moved by the support! Will be back ASAP to advance US-ROK alliance!

Tweet from Mark Lippert, U.S. ambassador to South Korea

The attack came suddenly, witnesses said. The man ran up to Lippert and began slashing, said Kim Young-man, spokesman for the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, which was hosting the event. A direct attack on a senior U.S. official is unusual, but it represents a thread in South Korean society of sometimes extreme protests on both sides of the political divide. The U.S. State Department issued a statement condemning the attack.

World South Korea ambassador