SEOUL — The U.S. State Department said the American ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was injured in an assault during a breakfast speech in Seoul but that his injuries were not life-threatening.
“We strongly condemn this act of violence,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, adding Lippert was being treated at a hospital.
President Barack Obama called Lippert to wish him a speedy recovery, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.
Lippert, 42, was attending a breakfast forum in central Seoul when an unidentified assailant attacked him, slashing him in the face, a witness at the event told Reuters.