{South Korean police vowed Monday 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.}<\/p>\n
Doctors said Lippert, 42, was recovering well from Thursday’s assault by nationalist activist Kim Ki-Jong, which left the envoy requiring surgery to repair deep gashes to his face and hand.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“He said he had… no intention to kill,” Yun told reporters.<\/p>\n
“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,” he added.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Yun said police were also analysing books and other materials found at his home as part of an investigation into Kim’s possible links with North Korea.<\/p>\n
Kim had visited the North 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. <\/p>\n
Kim has said he attacked Lippert as a protest against ongoing South-US army drills, which he blamed for souring inter-Korean relations.<\/p>\n
The annual drills, known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, have long been condemned by Pyongyang as rehearsals for invasion. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye visited Lippert in hospital on Monday after returning from an overseas tour, her spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Park received a facial injury in 2006 after being attacked by a razor-wielding man when she was campaigning as a legislator.<\/p>\n
The president was touring the Gulf region when the ambassador was attacked, but had spoken with Lippert by phone.<\/p>\n
The ambassador had some of the 80 stitches on his face removed Monday morning and was recovering well and expected to be released Tuesday afternoon, his doctors said.<\/p>\n
{{ 2015 AFP}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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