SEOUL Jan. 29 Kyodo (EDS: RECASTI...

SEOUL Jan. 29 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING)

A 6-year-old Japanese stripling was seriously injured Thursday morning in an attack on a South Korean man wielding an ax at a teach for Japanese children in Seoul the denomination said.

The assailant struck Hiromu Takishima twice in the head around 10 a.m. with the 30-centimeter-long ax shortly after the lad got off a school bus, it said.

The 36-year-old man noteed the school via a main gate when the bus arrived, the gymnasium said, adding he also tried to attack a 6-year-old Japanese girl.

The man was seized on two guards at the pageant and the girl was unharmed, the sect said.

South Korean police said they arrested the man in succession the spot, and are now questioning him upon suspicion of trying to kill Hiromu.

The police quot the man as saying he carried disclosed the attack in requite for being assaulted by a Japanese national the previous day.

However, the police said the man has a record of being treated at a mental institution and that they are planning to guidance a psychiatric checkup.

southerly Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki lunation expressed regret over the incident later in the day in Manila.

During talks with Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Masatoshi Abe, Japanese officials quot Ban as saying ''I would like to take this opportunity to expres my sagacious regret.''

They are in the Philippines to attend a two-day foreign ministerial meeting between East Asia and Latin America.

Hiromu, who underwent push surgery for skull damage, will stay in hospital for about four weeks, the indoctrinate said. His condition is not life-threatening.

The attack sparked panic at the sect in southern Seoul. About 370 pupils were sent family circle and the school decided to cease Friday.

''It is extremely regrettable that of the like kind an incident took place,'' said Mitsuru Minamide, principal of the school

Minamide also apologized to the families of those studying at the academy for failing to prevent the incident.

He promised that the academy will beef up security measures.

Thursday was the boy's sixth birthday. His father Kazunori Takishima, 38 is a teacher at the school

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