A militant Korean nationalist has slashed the face of the US ambassador to South Korea at a breakfast meeting in Seoul, but the envoy was not seriously hurt.
Mark Lippert, 42, was also cut on his left hand, with blood spattered over the breakfast table.
Security officers subdued the attacker, one pinning him down with a shoe on his neck, until he was arrested.
North Korea has described the attack as "just punishment for US warmongers".
South Korean police, who are in the process of obtaining warrants to search the attacker's home, are seeking to establish whether he has close ties with the North, the BBC's Stephen Evans reports from Seoul.
Mr Lippert had hospital treatment but later wrote in a tweet: "Doing well and in great spirits... Will be back ASAP to advance US-ROK [Republic of Korea] alliance!"
US President Barack Obama called his ambassador to wish him "the very best for a speedy recovery", a US official said.
The US state department said it strongly condemned the incident which South Korean President Park Guen-hye described as an "attack on the South Korea-US alliance".
Witnesses say the attacker, a 55-year-old man with a history of militant Korean nationalistic activism, shouted demands for North and South Korea to be reunified.
A small group of South Koreans held a protest against the attack outside the hospital where Mr Lippert was treated, waving placards which read "Mark Lippert, Cheer up!" and "Korea-US relationship is solid".
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