Belgium withdraws its ambassador to South Korea because of his wife

The Belgian ambassador to South Korea will leave his post in the coming weeks, after his wife assaulted an employee in a clothing store in an incident widely reported on social media.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement today, Friday, that Minister Sophie Wilms decided to end the mandate of Ambassador Peter Liquoy this summer after three years in office.

A clip recorded by security cameras showed Ambassador Xiang Xueqiu's wife slapping a store worker, who was trying to prevent her from hitting her colleague on April 9th.

According to the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chiang met with the employee to apologize to her for her "unacceptable behavior" and cooperated with the police, adding that her diplomatic immunity was lifted at the request of the South Korean police.