Jobless man arrested in South Korea for 'making online threat to kill US ambassador in Seoul'
PUBLISHED : Friday, 24 July, 2015, 3:58pm
UPDATED : Friday, 24 July, 2015, 4:12pm
Associated Press
Lippert was attacked by a man who slashed him with a knife during a breakfast forum earlier this year. Photo: AP
A 33-year-old jobless has been arrested for allegedly making an online threat to kill the US ambassador in Seoul.
South Korean police said the man allegedly left an English message vowing to “kill” Mark Lippert with “nuclear poisoning” on the website of the White House on July 8, police said.
The man, surnamed Lee, has denied the allegation. But police say they’ve found a draft of the online threat and records of access to the White House homepage on his laptop computer, according to the statement.
The allegations come just months after Lippert was attacked by another man who slashed him with a knife during a breakfast forum. Lippert suffered deep gashes on his face and arm in that attack in March and was treated at a Seoul hospital for five days.
Police said the message, which contained many grammar errors, didn’t clearly explain why he wanted to kill Lippert. They refused to disclose the full message.
Police said the man has lived in seclusion at his home but there is no record of any psychiatric hospital treatment. The investigation began at the request of the US Embassy in Seoul, according to police.
If convicted, the man could face up to five years in prison.
The man who attacked Lippert in March was later charged with attempted murder. Police said he chose Lippert as a target to highlight his opposition to US-South Korean military drills, which North Korea calls an invasion rehearsal. Seoul and Washington have said their drills are purely defensive.
Anti-US activists have long blamed the presence of 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea for the continuing split of the Korean Peninsula.
