The Attack on the US Ambassador to South Korea: My Two Cents

Published in Huanqiu
(China) on 6 March 2015
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Nathan Hsu. Edited by Stephen Proctor.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was attacked while attending a breakfast forum early on March 5, sustaining multiple wounds to his face, left arm and left hand that required over 80 stitches to stem the bleeding. His attacker was identified as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, a representative for the "Our Yard" organization, who threw himself upon Lippert while brandishing a fruit knife and shouting slogans about opposition to U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Despite the political reasoning behind Kim's actions, it was nonetheless an outlandish act of barbarism.

South Korean prosecutors have already announced that the case will be treated as an act of terror, while the president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, condemned the attack on the U.S. ambassador as an "attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance." South Korean public opinion yesterday regarding the attack was also widely critical.

Despite the obviously radical nature of the perpetrator, this incident sheds light upon anti-U.S. sentiment within South Korea. In fact, an ebb and flow of anti-Americanism has been nearly constant throughout South Korean history. At the moment, the nation views Washington rather favorably.

Moreover, regardless of how singular it may have been in nature, a criminal case of such severity playing out in Seoul in broad daylight will tarnish the world's impression of South Korean society. Indeed, for the rest of the world, one might say it falls under the category of "wouldn't have thought that possible," and it proves the existence within South Korea of at least some inclination to utilize extremist and illegal methods to achieve political ends.

As for Kim himself, in 2012* he was convicted of assaulting the Japanese ambassador to South Korea, but his sentence was suspended. Now that he is a recidivist, it seems likely that his punishment will be more severe. As reference, when Park Geun-hye was attacked and wounded in the face in 2006, the offender was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Yesterday, a fair few posts following the event on the Chinese Internet were actually favorable, praising Kim for being "a man." Such comments are largely populist, shallow and vicious attempts at stirring up trouble, and one would imagine that neither the U.S. nor South Korea will go so far as to take them seriously as the attitude of the Chinese people.

An attack like this occurring is a blemish upon a nation for the rest of the world to see, something that every society, regardless of country, will be keenly aware of. That the South Korean public condemned the attack so quickly and in a much more resolute and concerted display than that toward stationing U.S. troops within the country suggests that South Koreans may be seeking to repair their national image.

One can only imagine the furor that such an incident will cause among Americans, but the U.S. government's stance yesterday was fairly restrained, limiting its condemnation to the attacker himself and making no mention of dissatisfaction with South Korea. The U.S. clearly does not wish to politicize the incident, hoping instead to minimize its impact on U.S.-South Korea relations.

There remains little room for brash outbursts of radical sentiment in today's world. The incident in Seoul has no connection with China, and precisely because of this, it provides an opportunity to observe in detail what the aftershocks and end result of such a sudden international incident will be.

Some South Koreans appear to be quite hot-blooded, but the world that they face off against will go on in much the same stoic manner that it always has. In the end, this is just another international event that those who want to dissect will dissect, while those left simply baffled will not be unjustifiably so.

* Translator's Note: the actual year should be 2010.


美驻韩国大使马克·利珀特5日早上在首尔出席一个早餐会时遭到袭击,造成脸部、左臂和左手多处受伤,血流不止,导致缝80多针。现年55岁的肇事者金基宗是韩国“我们场院”组织负责人,他当时持水果刀扑向利珀特,事前高呼反对韩美联合军事演习、要求韩朝实现统一的口号。金的行动有一定政治逻辑,但仍被认为是唐突、离奇的。

  韩国检方已宣布以“恐怖袭击”的罪名调查此案,韩国总统朴槿惠谴责这起对美国大使的攻击是“对韩美同盟的攻击”。韩国舆论昨天普遍对这起袭击予以抨击。

  这起事件让人相信,韩国国内的确存在反对韩美同盟的情绪,尽管肇事者显然属于一名极端人士。事实上反美主义在韩国历史上时起时伏,现在是华盛顿在韩国受到优待比较多的时候。

  作为一起严重刑事案件,能在首尔的光天化日之下发生,无论它的孤立性多么明显,还是给世人对韩国社会的印象留下一道“烙印”。说实话它属于外界“没想到”的范畴,它证明,韩国存在有倾向于用激烈且非法方式表达政治诉求的力量。

  金本人2012年曾袭击日本驻韩大使未遂,被判刑但缓期执行。他这次是“累犯”,估计会遭到重判。朴槿惠2006年曾因遭袭击而脸部受伤,袭击者被判10年监禁。

  昨天中国互联网上对此条新闻的跟帖里有不少叫好声,称金“是条汉子”等。它们大致是民粹主义浅层的幸灾乐祸和凑热闹,估计美韩双方都不至于把它们当成中国公众的严肃态度。

  发生这样的袭击会让一个国家在世界面前丢分,各国主流社会都不难拥有这样的认识。韩国舆论迅速同声谴责金的袭击,这一表现比韩国社会对美国驻军相对复杂的态度要一致、坚决得多,这恐怕是韩国人想做某种形象的挽回。

  可以想见美国主流社会对发生这种事情有多恼火,但美国官方昨天的表态很克制,只谴责袭击者本人,并没有对韩国表达不满。美国显然不想让这件事政治化,而希望尽量减少它对韩美关系的冲击。

  如今的世界里已很少有对激进情绪做率意表达的空间。这件发生在首尔的事与中国毫无关系,正因如此,它提供了我们仔细观察一起国际个性化突发事件会有什么影响、产生什么结局的案例。

  有些韩国人看来挺猛的,但这种猛所面对的世界却冷峻而依然故我。这是一幅让人想看懂就能看懂、想糊涂就有理由糊涂的世情景象。
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