The horrid knife attack on the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert yesterday shook the nation... and also sparked concerns about whether it will affect Seoul's relations with Washington.<br />But the general view by analysts is... that the U.S.-Korea alliance will remain intact.<br />Hwang Sung-hee reports. <br />South Korea and the United States have enjoyed an alliance that gets stronger by the day.<br />And then this happened -- a brutal knife attack on the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert by a South Korean man at an event in central Seoul.<br />But experts are not worried about the incident affecting the alliance.<br /><br />"If you think about it, the national interest does not change."<br /><br />That national interest stretches from trade and tourism to military cooperation, with a focus on countering North Korean threats.<br />The suspect in Thursday's attack shouted his opposition to the joint South Korea-U.S. military drills.<br /><br /><br />"We are not reunited. The war exercise should be stopped."<br /><br />But the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command stands firm by its plan to conduct the drills, scheduled to continue through late April.<br />North Korea's hasty response to the attack,... calling it a "deserved punishment" and the "knife of justice" for the joint exercises, may also bolster Seoul and Washington's commitment in dealing with Pyongyang's human rights abuses and nuclear program.<br /><br />"This will push them even further to support more punitive actions and aggressive actions."<br /><br />Most analysts say the pillars of the alliance are too strong to be shaken by an unpredictable "lone wolf" attack by a crazed individual.<br /><br /><br />"But some do point out that while the relationship at the government-level will remain intact, the incident could take a toll on U.S. public sentiment about security in South Korea.<br />Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News."
