US Ambassador Slashed In Face With Knife

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The US ambassador to South Korea has been slashed on the face and wrist by a knife-wielding attacker shouting for unification of the divided peninsula.

The 42-year-old Mark Lippert was taken hospital after the attack during a breakfast speech in Seoul, and underwent surgery for more than two hours. His injuries were not life-threatening.

He received an 11cm (4in) wound to the right of his face requiring 80 stitches and a cut to his left arm which ruptured a tendon and caused nerve damage.

Hours later, he tweeted that he was "doing well&in great spirits!"

Mr Lippert will likely need to be treated at the hospital for the next three or four days and may experience sensory problems in his left hand for several months, doctor Chung Nam-sik said.

President Barack Obama called Mr Lippert, a former aide, to wish him a swift recovery.

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Gallery: US Envoy Injured In Knife Attack

US Ambassador Mark Lippert was slashed on the face and wrist by a knife-wielding attacker

The suspect, identified as im Ki-Jong, screamed demands for a unified North and South Korea

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The attack took place during a breakfast speech in Seoul

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Police patrol the US Embassy after the attack

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A State Department spokeswoman said: "We strongly condemn this act of violence."

Footage taken in the aftermath of the attack showed the ambassador being rushed out of the building holding one hand to his bleeding right cheek, with his other hand smeared with blood.

Security staff and police officers were seen jumping on the ambassador's assailant, who was armed with a 10-inch blade.

Police have identified the suspected attacker as 55-year-old Kim Ki-Jong, who has a previous conviction for assaulting the Japanese ambassador to Seoul in 2010.

"I carried out an act of terror," he shouted as he was pinned to the floor.

Police said they had detained the attacker and started an investigation.

A spokesman for the Korea Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, which hosted the event, apologised for the lack of security.

Mr Lippert, a long-time adviser to Mr Obama and former US assistant secretary of defence for Asian affairs, only took up his post in South Korea last October.

His wife recently gave birth to their son, to whom they gave a Korean middle name.

Mr Lippert has previously served as an intelligence officer for naval special operations, and won a Bronze Star Medal following a tour in Iraq.

South and North Korea have been divided since the 1950-53 Korean War and are still technically at war because the fighting ended in a truce.

The US and South Korea launched annual joint military exercises this week leading to heightened tensions with the communist North.

Pyongyang claims they are rehearsals for an invasion, while South Korea and the US argue they are purely defensive.

Following the attack on the ambassador, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said the exercises would continue as planned.

America has almost 30,000 troops permanently stationed in the South.

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Malu Rasanya