President Park Geun-hye said Thursday that South Korea’s alliance with the United States will never waver in the latest comment underscoring Seoul’s commitment following the bloody attack of the top U.S. envoy.
Park described the knife attack of U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert by an anti-U.S. activist as an attack against the alliance.
Still, she said a mature response from South Koreans and Americans over the incident has helped strengthen bilateral confidence.
“South Korea-U.S. alliance will never waver by any outside obstacles,” Park said at a joint commissioning ceremony for graduating military cadets at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters in central South Korea.
She said the alliance will continue to contribute to stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Her comments came two days after Lippert vowed to work to further solidify the Seoul-Washington alliance as he was being released from a Seoul hospital.
A 55-year-old South Korean activist slashed Lippert with a 25-centimeter knife during a breakfast function in Seoul last Thursday, opening deep gashes on his face and left arm which required 80 stitches.
On Monday, Park made a surprise visit to Lippert in the hospital upon her return from a four-nation tour of the Middle East.
Park also said at a national prayer breakfast meeting in southern Seoul earlier in the day that acts of terrorism should never be tolerated under any circumstances.
She said it’s urgent to build social confidence and integration to end the vicious cycle of friction and division.
She also called for efforts to end a seven decades-old division and open the door to unification with North Korea, noting 70 has a significant meaning in the Bible.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule.
Upon liberation, the Korean Peninsula was divided into the capitalist South and communist North. The peninsula is still at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Also at the military headquarters, she called on the troops to maintain military readiness and a strong deterrence to help induce North Korea to make positive changes. (Yonhap)
