The Lebanese ambassador to South Korea stated that news reports about a car accident he had on Wednesday morning were blown out of proportion, saying that the matter has been “handled privately and adequately.”

Yonhap News reported Wednesday that Lebanese Ambassador to South Korea Jad El-Hassan was suspected by the Yongsan Police of speeding away in his car after rear-ending another vehicle while at a traffic intersection at around 10 a.m. in the Itaewon district of Seoul. The car was driven by a Korean woman in her 30s.

Law enforcement authorities did file a request with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the ambassador to report to the police station, a ministry official said.

“I was driving near the (Lebanese) embassy when the accident happened, but this is really something to be handled by the insurance companies,” El-Hassan said when he was reached by phone, adding “a man came to the house and we handled this privately. It was all taken care of.”

El-Hassan did not elaborate on the car accident, however, and declined to clarify what he meant by it being “handled privately and adequately.”

El-Hassan arrived in Seoul to assume his posting here in June 2012. Lebanon and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1981.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)