South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck during a working visit to the southern city of Busan on Tuesday. Lee, leader of the Democratic Party, has been taken to a hospital. The perpetrator was overpowered and arrested. This is reported by the Reuters news agency.
Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to President Yoon Suk-yeol, was attacked by an unidentified man while speaking to media at a tour of the site of a new airport. He suffered a cut of about a centimeter on his neck, according to the South Korean channel YTN. Lee was flown by fire helicopter to Pusan National University Hospital and is being treated in the emergency room. According to the police, his life is not in danger, the BBC reports.
News photos showed Lee, 59, bleeding on the ground with his eyes closed as bystanders pressed a handkerchief to the side of his neck. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, Lee was conscious when he was taken to hospital.
Paper crown
The attacker turned out to be a man wearing a paper crown with Lee’s name on it, estimated to be in his fifties or sixties. Video footage shows the man approaching him and asking for an autograph as Lee spoke to a group of supporters and reporters. Then the man jumped forward and attacked Lee.
Nothing is yet known about the perpetrator’s motive. According to the Busan Ilbo newspaper, he refused to answer police questions about his motives. President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the attack.
Lee’s party and Yoon’s conservative party are the two main parties in South Korea. Lee is believed to want to run for president again in 2027. He is currently on trial for alleged corruption in a construction project when he was mayor of Seongnam, a suburb of Seoul.
Physical attacks on South Korean politicians have happened before. In March 2022, Lee’s predecessor Song Young-gil was attacked while campaigning for Lee. He suffered a head injury. In 2006, conservative party leader and later president Park Geun-hye was attacked with a knife. She was left with a scar on her face.