U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, in 2015, attends a news conference before being discharged from a hospital in Seoul. His attacker, Kim Ki-jong, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Wednesday. (Ahn Young-Joon/AP)

The South Korean man who slashed U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert last year was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison for attempted murder.

Kim Ki-jong, apparently a North Korean sympathizer, attacked the U.S. ambassador to South Korea at a breakfast forum in central Seoul in March last year while joint U.S.-South Korean military drills were taking place. “No war! The two Koreas should be unified!” Kim, now 56, reportedly shouted.

Lippert needed more than 80 stitches in his face, arm and leg, and he still has a scar on his cheek.

[U.S. ambassador to Seoul wounded by assailant]

“Kim, in order to widely publicize his views on wanting to halt the South Korea-U.S. military drills, committed a very serious crime by targeting the U.S. ambassador and attacking him with a knife,” South Korea’s Supreme Court said in its sentencing ruling.

The magnitude of the attack and size of the knife — it was almost 10 inches long — left no doubt that Kim intended to kill Lippert, the court said, according to local media reports. They also noted that Kim showed no repentance for the crime.

The court confirmed the sentence recommended by a lower court. It also upheld the decision not to punish Kim, as prosecutors wanted, for violating South Korea’s national-security law, which bans citizens from praising or supporting the North.

Kim, who had previously received a two-year suspended jail sentence for throwing a piece of concrete at the Japanese ambassador to South Korea, was deemed not to have been engaging in anti-state activities.

The U.S. ambassador to South Korea is always a high-profile figure, but Lippert is particularly popular among locals because of his down-to-earth ways and his frequent tweets written in schoolboy Korean. His recent public appearances include appearing on a TV show devoted to baseball and, wearing a wet suit and a pink cap, swimming across the Han River, which bisects Seoul, with South Korean triathletes.

The United States is a crucial ally to South Korea, which technically remains at war with North Korea. About 28,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea to help fend off an attack from the north.

After North Korea’s recent missile launches and fifth nuclear test, the two militaries have been putting on a show of force to send a message to Pyongyang, flying fighter jets over the southern half of the peninsula.

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U.S. ambassador to South Korea is back on the streets — and on the tweets

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world