# US Ambassador to South Korea slashed on face by knife-wielding attacker



## CougarKing (4 Mar 2015)

An isolated case? 

Perhaps the US state department's security measures still need to improve much more since Benghazi.

Canadian Press



> *US ambassador to SKorea slashed on face and wrist by attacker screaming for Korean unification*
> 
> The Canadian Press
> 
> ...


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## midget-boyd91 (4 Mar 2015)

The ambassador to South Korea is a former SEAL who more than once left government office to return to active duty.... The attacker should feel fortunate that ambassador Lippert did not lay a world of hurt down on him.


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## Blackadder1916 (5 Mar 2015)

uncle-midget-Oddball said:
			
		

> The ambassador to South Korea is a former SEAL who more than once left government office to return to active duty.... The attacker should feel fortunate that ambassador Lippert did not lay a world of hurt down on him.



No, he is not. While Ambassador Lippert should be commended for taking the remarkable (_for a senior political advisor in then Senator Obama's office_) step of joining the US Navy Reserve as an Intelligence Officer and then doing periods of active duty (including deployments), at times with Navy Special Warfare elements, it does not make him a SEAL.  As he is quoted in a Newsweek article


> He won't say where he went in Iraq or precisely what he did there, except that he worked with Navy SEALs. But he readily admits he faced little physical danger: "I had no mishaps, other than cutting my hand on a cracked crab in the dining hall." Still, he believes the experience has changed his approach to policy.


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## dimsum (5 Mar 2015)

He ate seafood at a DFAC?  That's pretty high up on the physical (at least intestinal) danger scale


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## Retired AF Guy (7 Mar 2015)

Some photos of the Ambassador after the attack and the arrest of his assailant:


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## tomahawk6 (8 Mar 2015)

Security even in a place like Korea needs to be taken more seriously.


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## jollyjacktar (8 Mar 2015)

Buddy isn't stepping on the perps head nearly hard enough.  I wouldn't want to be a member of the Ambassador's (lack of)protection detail from that morning.  I'm sure their next posting will suck hard.


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## Blackadder1916 (8 Mar 2015)

jollyjacktar said:
			
		

> Buddy isn't stepping on the perps head nearly hard enough.  I wouldn't want to be a member of the Ambassador's (lack of)protection detail from that morning.  I'm sure their next posting will suck hard.



What detail?  What next posting?  He was already home.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/mark-lippert-ambassador-unarmed-guard/story?id=29413198


> Mark Lippert: Ambassador Only Had One Unarmed Guard
> 
> Mar 5, 2015, 12:29 PM ET   BY JUSTIN FISHEL
> 
> ...



http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/security-questions-in-south-korea-after-u-s-ambassador-knifed-1.2266891


> Security questions in South Korea after U.S. ambassador knifed
> 
> Kim Tong-Hyung and Foster Klug, The Associated Press
> Published Friday, March 6, 2015 3:58AM EST
> ...


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## jollyjacktar (8 Mar 2015)

Blackadder1916 said:
			
		

> What detail?  What next posting?  He was already home.
> 
> http://abcnews.go.com/International/mark-lippert-ambassador-unarmed-guard/story?id=29413198
> http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/security-questions-in-south-korea-after-u-s-ambassador-knifed-1.2266891



Well, excuse me.  

I am surprised that he did not have a protection detail assigned to him as an Ambassador, especially after Libya.  I would imagine then that the State Department will perhaps reconsider things.


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## tomahawk6 (9 Mar 2015)

I do know that in the ROK its customary to notify the ROK police when he is moving about Seoul.It seems that they did not follow protocol this time.


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