Diplomat upbeat despite stabbing

SEOUL, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF — U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert vowed Tuesday not to change his “open and friendly” approach to diplomacy, as he left a South Korean hospital five days after being attacked by a knifewielding man screaming about Korean unification.

Lippert told reporters that he felt “pretty darn good, all things considered” after the incident on Thursday, when police say an anti-U.S. activist slashed his face and left arm during a breakfast forum in Seoul.

Lippert has endeared himself to South Koreans by regularly walking his basset hound around his compound in downtown Seoul and giving his newborn son a Korean middle name.