Mark Lippert (L), the United States ambassador to South Korea, speaks to students of Jeju National University at a sea wall in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on May 15, 2016. Lippert also attended the Jeju Food & Wine Festival and met with Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong. (Yonhap)
U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert (C), escorted by Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young (R), looks around the Hwaseong Haenggung Palace in Suwon, west of Seoul, on April 29, 2016. The palace is part of Hwaseong Fortress, which was designated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1997. King Jeongjo, the 22nd monarch of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), built the fortress in memory of his late father Sado. (Yonhap)
I have always said that Trump’s claims that South Korea is getting a free ride is inaccurate and Ambassador Lippert is calling him out on it as well. Trump should specify what he thinks South Korea should pay if he wants to criticize like this because South Korea pays a lot more than many other nations getting a free ride off of the US defense umbrella. With that said Trump probably fully knows that South Korea pays a lot already and is just repeating the claim that resonates with low information voters:
Amb. Mark Lippert speaks to members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea at a Seoul hotel on March 28, 2016. (Yonhap)
U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert on Monday dismissed accusations by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump that South Korea is paying little to keep American troops on its soil.
Without naming Trump, Lippert cited various reasons why the allegations aren’t true, including the fact that South Korea shoulders 55 percent of all non-personnel costs and increases its defense spending by 3 to 5 percent annually.
“We feel very good about the resource sharing that we and the Republic of Korea do together as an alliance,” the ambassador said during a meeting with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. “It is remarkable.”
Lippert was responding to a request for comments on a “U.S. political candidate’s” contentions that the country receives little from South Korea in exchange for its support.
Trump has made repeated claims that South Korea is getting a free ride on defense, saying recently that the U.S. is “constantly sending our ships, sending our planes, doing our war games” but being “reimbursed a fraction of what this is all costing.” He also told The New York Times he would withdraw American troops from South Korea and Japan unless they boost their financial contributions to the upkeep of the U.S. military presence. [Yonhap]
I think this guy got off light with a 12 year sentence for trying to kill US Ambassador Mark Lippert so any more time in prison the Koreans can give him the better:
A local court on Wednesday sentenced the 56-year-old man, who attacked the top U.S. envoy to South Korea last year, to an additional 18 months in prison for assaulting prison staff.
The Seoul Central District Court found Kim Ki-jong guilty of hitting a prison officer and a surgeon when he was denied the right to go to a hospital for his ankle injury. The staff rejected Kim’s request as the injury was treatable in jail, prosecutors said.
Kim is currently serving a prison term for attacking U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert with a knife at a function in Seoul in March last year.
“The defendant denies the allegations and only emphasizes the legitimacy of his (action), without showing any remorse,” the court said.
In September, the same court sentenced the 56-year-old to 12 years in prison on a string of charges, including attempted murder. [Yonhap]
This should come as no surprise that the man who slashed US Ambassador Mark Lippert was a radical leftist inspired by North Korean propaganda:
The South Korean man who slashed the top U.S. envoy to Seoul earlier this year committed the crime after being influenced by North Korea’s propaganda, police said Tuesday.
Kim Ki-jong attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast function at a cultural center in central Seoul on March 5, leaving the US ambassador with deep gashes on his face and arm that needed more than 80 stitches to close.
Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.
On Tuesday, police brought an additional charge of violating South Korea’s National Security Law that prohibits citizens from supporting or praising North Korea.
Police said Kim’s alleged attempt to kill Lippert was inspired by North Korea’s propaganda that incited the killing of the U.S. envoy.
North Korea has hailed Kim as a hero, comparing him to Ahn Joong-keun, a renowned anti-Japanese independence fighter revered in both Koreas. Still, North Korea has disavowed its involvement in the attack, which South Korean officials called “an act of terrorism.”
Police also said books and other materials confiscated from Kim’s home support North Korea’s strategy of communizing South Korea.
In April, he told the first session of his pretrial at a court that he did not try to murder the ambassador and that he was proud he reduced the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day. [Yonhap]
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert tests a full change model of the Spark, displayed by GM Korea, the local unit of U.S.-based General Motors Co., as he attends the 2015 Seoul Motor Show at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Ilsan, just north of Seoul, on April 3, 2015, in this photo provided by the automaker. (Yonhap)
It is going to be interesting to see what other dirt the ROK government digs up on Kim Ki-jong:
Kim Cheol-jun, lead investigator from the National Police Agency, gives a briefing on March 13, 2015, on the probe into Kim Ki-jong, the man who is suspected of attacking the top U.S. envoy last week. (Yonhap)
The suspected attacker of the top U.S. envoy in Seoul contacted a South Korean man previously convicted of spying for North Korea before carrying out the attack, police said Friday.
Kim Ki-jong was arrested last week on charges of slashing U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert on his face and wrist with a knife during a breakfast function in downtown Seoul. The attack left Lippert with wounds that required 80 stitches.
The 55-year-old faces charges of attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction. Police said they are planning to ask the prosecutors to take over the case later in the day.
Kim has said he was acting alone. But a special task force investigating the case said the 55-year-old contacted more than 30 people — including a former spy for North Korea and a key member of a pro-North Korea organization here — in the run-up to the incident.
Kim Cheol-jun, the lead investigator from the National Police Agency, said authorities are delving further into Kim’s phone and bank transaction records to find out whether any of them had been involved. (……….)
Police said they also believe the attack was premeditated. Kim’s Internet browsing history shows that he had looked up Lippert’s blog, his height and South Korea’s criminal law a day before the incident, according to authorities.
He also appeared to have had an intent to kill, police said. He reportedly said he brought a knife because his previous attempt to harm a Japanese ambassador to Seoul years ago failed. He also slashed Lippert at least twice, leaving deep gashes on his face and arm that required more than 80 stitches. [Yonhap]
President Park Geun-hye (R) visits U.S. ambassador Mark Lippert at Severance Hospital in Seoul on March 9, 2015. Park went to the hospital as soon as she came back from a nine-day Middle East tour to encourage Lippert. The U.S. envoy underwent face surgery for 80 stitches last week after an anti-U.S. activist attacked him with a knife at a function in Seoul. (Yonhap)
