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US Ambassador Lippert’s attacker shows no remorse

April 23, 2015

A suspect, identified by police as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, is carried on a stretcher off an ambulance as he arrives at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 5, 2015. 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, South Korean police and U.S. officials said Thursday.(AP Photo/Yonhap, Han Jong-chan)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — The man who slashed the U.S. ambassador in Seoul last month said Thursday he was proud he reduced the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day.

Kim Ki-jong was arrested on March 5 immediately after he attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast meeting in Seoul. More than 80 stitches were required to close the gashes on the envoy’s face and wrist.

Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.

The first charge is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

Kim pleaded guilty to the latter two charges but denies he tried to murder the ambassador.

“I’m not trying to brag, and I won’t call my action ‘worthwhile,’” Kim, brimming with confidence, said during the first session of his pretrial at a court here. “But I prevented people from getting hurt by stopping the joint drills even for a day. I hope you take that into consideration.”

Kim wore a blue prisoner’s suit and had a scruffy beard but looked as if he was enjoying the attention.

He even exchanged smiles with his supporters as he entered the courtroom.

He was in a wheelchair, apparently still recuperating from an ankle fracture he sustained when authorities overpowered him.

Kim said he believes the drills hamper efforts to reunify the two Koreas, which technically remain at war since no peace treaty formally ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

His attorney, Hwang Sang-hyeon, said Kim simply intended to put on a “performance” to alarm the U.S.

“But he lost his cool at the last minute and went further than he had planned,” Hwang said.

South Korea and the U.S. have carried out joint annual exercises since the 1990s to better deter North Korean aggression. The North claims the drills are a rehearsal for a northward invasion.

The first part of this year’s Key Resolve exercise ended a day early on March 5, but the South Korean military says Kim’s attack had nothing to do with the drill schedule.

This year’s Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises run from March 2 to Friday.

The second hearing is set for May 13.