The leaders of rival parties in South Korea on Sunday emphasized a sustained Seoul-Washington alliance as they visited the hospitalized US envoy who is recovering from wounds he suffered last week from a knife attack, Yonhap News reported.
Kim Moo-sung, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, and Moon Jae-in, head of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), made separate visits to US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, who suffered injuries to his face and left arm on Thursday from the attack by a 55-year-old man.
Lippert was quoted as saying that the incident was an attack on the US.
The head of the ruling party said the attack should not get in the way of the Korea-US alliance, adding that his party will do its best to help South Korea upkeep the alliance.
Doctors said Lipper may be discharged from the hospital as early as Tuesday as he is showing a fast recovery.
An official at the US Embassy in Seoul told reporters that Lippert was reading "The Two Koreas," a book by Don Oberdorfer, former Washington Post correspondent for Northeast Asia. The book chronicles Korea's contemporary history following its 1945 liberation from Japan's colonial rule.