SEOUL — The shop assistant followed the ambassador’s wife out of a Seoul clothing store, stopped her in the street and checked the label of her jacket to make sure it had not been shoplifted. The customer, Xiang Xueqiu, returned to the store in a rage, slapping the assistant on the back of the head and another in the face. She had not stolen anything, but the attack was captured by surveillance footage and led to a police investigation. Now the Belgian embassy in Seoul has said it will recall Ms. Xiang’s husband, Ambassador Peter Lescouhier, “in the best interest of our bilateral relations.”Mr. Lescouhier is scheduled to leave his post sometime this summer. The bilateral trading relationship between Belgium and South Korea was worth more than four billion euros, or nearly $5 billion, last year.

Source: New York Times June 01, 2021 10:07 UTC