U.S. ambassador slashed in South Korea

Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this article did not make clear the ambassador's military experience. He was an intelligence officer with the U.S. Navy SEALs' Naval Special Warfare Development Group, but was not a SEAL himself.

TOKYO — The U.S. ambassador to South Korea was slashed in the face early Thursday while speaking at a breakfast forum in Seoul, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, U.S. and Korean officials said.

Ambassador Mark Lippert was cut on the right cheek by a man wielding a blade, according to witnesses. He was in stable condition after surgery at a hospital in Seoul.

YTN TV reported that the assailant, identified by police as Kim Ki-jong, 55, screamed, "South and North Korea should be reunified" as he launched the attack. The two Koreas have been divided for decades along the world's most heavily armed border.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Lippert was taken to a hospital for treatment. She said he also suffered a cut to the wrist in addition to his cheek.

"We strongly condemn this act of violence," Harf said.

In a televised briefing, Chung Nam-sik of the Severance Hospital said 80 stitches were needed to close the facial wound, which was just over 4 inches long and just more than 1 inch deep, the Associated Press reported. He said the cut did not affect Lippert's nerves or salivary gland.

Chung said the knife penetrated Lippert's left arm and damaged the nerves connected to his pinkie and tendons connected to his thumb, the AP said. Chung said the ambassador will need treatment at the hospital for the next three or four days, and may experience sensory problems in his left hand for several months.

President Obama telephoned Lippert after the attack to express his thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery, the White House said.

A witness, Ahn Yang-ok, the head of the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, told YTN that Lippert had just been seated for breakfast ahead of the lecture organized by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation when a man ran toward the ambassador from a nearby table.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and vowed a thorough investigation and strengthened protection of embassies.

South Korea President Park Geun-hye similarly was slashed in the face during a 2006 campaign appearance. That injury required abut 60 stitches and several hours of surgery to repair.

Lippert, 42, has been ambassador to South Korea since October 2014. Prior to that he held several senior positions in the Defense Department, including chief of staff to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and assistant secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.

A Navy reservist, Lippert served a nine-month tour on active duty in Iraq in 2008 and 2009 as an intelligence officer with U.S. Navy SEALS' secretive Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu, said there appeared to be no particular reason for the attack on Lippert.

"For all I have seen, Lippert has made a great impression on the ROK people. He was doing all the right things, and was garnering a lot of positive PR. His wife just had a son and they gave him a Korean middle name," Glosserman told USA TODAY.

On Monday, North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its eastern coast, South Korea said, a defiant response to annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.

About 25,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea.

The man shouted anti-war slogans after he was detained and taken to a hospital. Seoul police said the weapon was a 10-inch blade.

A police official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said in 2010, the suspect Kim Ki-jong threw a piece of concrete at the Japanese ambassador in Seoul. Kim, who was protesting Japan's claim to small disputed islands occupied by South Korea, was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term, local media reported.

The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts where he was delivering an early morning talk Thursday is directly across the street from the U.S. Embassy.

Korean TV video showed the suspect being tackled and subdued. The attacker was wearing a modern version of traditional Korean dress.

Welch reported from Los Angeles