He’s the bionic ambassador!
Mark Lippert, America’s envoy to South Korea, rolled out this space-age-looking hand brace while recovering from injuries inflicted by a knife-wielding madman in Seoul last month.
Ambassador Lippert, 42, who was slashed in the face and left hand, ditched his regular splint in favor of a sci-fi-worthy exoskeletal contraption.
The brace allows him to flex his hand, which sustained nerve and possible tendon damage.
“It is a dynamic splint that allows movement of my hand while immobilizing my wrist,” the dauntless diplomat wrote on Facebook.
“In this way, I can strengthen my hand through motion while simultaneously supporting my fingers. It is an amazing apparatus, one I haven’t seen before — so innovative and creative.”
Lippert was viciously attacked on March 5 by 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, who was armed with a paring knife. The splint was custom-made at Severance Hospital in South Korea.
With use of the bionic hand, Lippert is back to walking his basset hound, Grigsby.
“It is very comfortable and has made a huge difference in my recovery as I am able to hold things in my hand,” he added. “This is of particular importance when I am walking Grigsby, as I often need two hands to manage Grigsby!”
Even his social-media pals were impressed.
“Very Wolverine like but amazing technology,” Robert Camacho wrote on his Facebook page.
And Nick Dowling offered some dubious advice: “If you ever wanted to intimidate in a bar fight, now’s the time.”
The splint — which features a wrist brace and metal spokes attached to his fingers — is similar to devices worn by some stroke victims, said Vanderbilt University engineering Professor Michael Goldfarb, who has built similar devices in the US.
Goldfarb said such devices allow patients to open their hands.
“The nerves that help him grasp things to close his hand are probably unaffected by the injury,” he said. “But the nerves that help him open his hand were probably damaged.”
At the time of the attack, the US and South Korea were about conduct routine war games. Kim, a Korean nationalist and reunification proponent, apparently believed the games hinder a North-South reconciliation. He could face life behind bars.
Additional reporting by David K Li and Post Wire Services
