South Korea's opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday, according to local media reports. Lee was attacked by an unidentified man while touring the site of a proposed airport.
The assailant was identified as a man in his 50s or 60s, who asked Lee for an autograph, then suddenly lunged forward to attack him. He was quickly arrested and subdued at the scene, as Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground.
Lee, 59, the head of the main opposition Democratic Party, was airlifted to a Seoul hospital for surgery after receiving emergency treatment in Busan. Senior Busan police officer Sohn Jae-han said that officials near Lee quickly subdued the attacker and 41 officers have been deployed to the area for crowd control and management. Busan's emergency office said that Lee, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, was conscious and nnot critical but his exact condition was unknown. Media reports cited witnesses as saying the man used a knife-like weapon to injure Lee's neck.
The opposition leader was transported to a hospital, after video clips showed the man lunging at Lee with his arms streched out. Although there are strict restrictions on gun possession, South Korea has a history of political violence involving other types of weapons.
Lee's Democratic Party called the incident “a terrorist attack on Lee and a serious threat to democracy.” It called on police to make a through, swift investigation. Party spokesperson Kwon Chil-seung said that Lee's jugular vein was believed to have been damaged and there was concern over the large amount of bleeding.
President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed deep concern about Lee's health and ordered authorities to investigate the attack, saying such violence would not be tolerated, according to Yoon's office.
Lee lost the 2022 presidential election to President Yoon Suk Yeol by a narrow margin. A liberal former provincial governor, Lee is known for his outspoken style. His supporters see him as an anti-elitist hero who could reform establishment politics, eradicate corruption and solve growing economic inequality. However, his critics view him as a dangerous populist who relies on stoking divisions and demonising his conservative opponents.
Lee faces an array of corruption allegations, including that he provided unlawful favors to a private investor who reaped huge profits from a dubious housing project in the city of Seongnam, where Lee was mayor for a decade until 2018. Lee has denied legal wrongdoing and accused Yoon's government of pursuing a political vendetta. He held a 24-day hunger strike last year to protest what he called Yoon's failure to oppose Japan's release of treated radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power, his handling of the country's post-pandemic economy and his hard-line policies on North Korea.
In 2006, then-conservative opposition party leader Park Geun-hye, who later served as president, was attacked at an event with a knife and suffered a gash on her faced that required surgery.
(with inputs from agencies)
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