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1 [1] (March 10, 2015)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthaafcn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS Insights The Attack Against the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark E. Manyin, Specialist in Asian Affairs (mmanvin(acrsjoc.gov, 7-7653) Alex Tiersky, Analyst in Foreign Affairs (atiersk y~ as.loc~gov, 7-7367) Mrh10, 2015 (IN10243 At a March 5 breakfast meeting in Seoul, a South Korean man attacked U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert with a knife, sending the Ambassador to the hospital with deep cuts on his face, fingers, and wrist. Lippert required surgery, including 80 stitches on his face. He was discharged on March 10 and is expected to make a complete recovery. Many Korean dignitaries, including President Park Geun-hye and the heads of South Korea's ruling party and main opposition party, visited Lippert in the hospital. South Korean authorities arrested the attacker, Kim Ki-jong, on attempted murder and other charges. At the scene and later through his lawyer, Kim said he acted alone to protest large-scale annual U.S.- South Korean military exercises, which he said hinder inter-Korean dialogue and efforts for reunification. Kim is the director of a left-wing nationalist civic group. He has a history of involvement in anti-U.S. protests, has expressed support for pro-North Korean causes, and was convicted in 2010 for throwing cement blocks at the Japanese ambassador to South Korea. Within days following the incident, charges mounted that the Park government and its conservative base wre xlIIng th ck to undermine domestic opposition groups and rally support for the U.S.-South Korea alliance. If the perception grows that the government and ruling party politicized the attack in this way, President Park and her ruling party may find it more difficult to obtain left-of-center support on issues that matter to Washington and are controversial in South Korea. (For more, see CRS Report R41481, U.S. -South Korea Relations.) President Park's ruling Saenuri Party holds a slim majority in South Korea's National Assembly. The next legislative elections are scheduled for April 2016. South Korean Attitudes Toward the United States The attack on Ambassador Lippert contrasts with increasingly positive attitudes among South Koreans about the United States and the U.S.-South Korea alliance. For instance, in a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center, over 80% of South Koreans registered a favorable opinion of the United States, up from less than 50% in 2003, when South Korea was swept by a wave of protests against the accidental killing of two Korean schoolgirls by a U.S. military vehicle in Seoul. That said, many South Koreans do not hesitate to criticize individual U.S. government policies and express resentment when they feel that South Korean leaders are catering too much to U.S. interests. Once the immediate revulsion against the attack on Ambassador Lippert had passed, some South Koreans said that some government officials and conservative groups had been overly obsequious in apologizing for the incident. Additionally, some observers noted that the attack occurred just days after p br State Deartment iial that angered many Koreans who said it appeared to blame South Korea for being too critical of Japan. A small segment of the South Korean population remains ideologically anti-American, partially a legacy of U.S. support for the authoritarian governments that ruled South Korea from 1948-1988. Kim, Ambassador Lippert's assailant, appears to come from this radical segment of South Korean society, which has shrunk in size and influence, particularly since the 1970s and 1980s, when protests and even violent attacks against U.S. targets were not uncmmo~n. Links to North Korea? Some South Koreans have criticized the Park government and her party for Politicizing the incident, including by appearing to link it to North Korea and pro-Pyongyang elements inside South Korea rather