According to accounts from the nation’s media, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition party in South Korea, was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday by an unidentified individual who pushed through a crowd pretending to be one of his fans.
As shown on South Korean television channels, Lee was surrounded by reporters and admirers at a potential airport site in the southern port city of Busan when a guy lunged and punched him in the neck.
He was bleeding and conscious when he was brought to Pusan University Hospital, the Yonhap news agency reported. Following that, officials said Lee was flown to the capital, Seoul National University Hospital, to undergo surgery.
According to Yonhap, the attacker—who was wearing a cap with a pro-Lee message—was seen by police being wrestled to the ground and was later taken into custody at the scene.
Witnesses informed local network YTN that Lee was “walking to his car while talking to reporters when the attacker asked for his autograph”; after that, Lee was hit with something that “looked like a knife.”
According to South Korean news source Chosun Ilbo, which AFP cited, Lee had a “one-centimeter laceration on his neck” and “remains conscious and bleeding is minor,” according to Busan police.
Yonhap cited police officials who said that the perpetrator has not disclosed his motivation.
In 2022, Lee was defeated by the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol in the most competitive presidential election in South Korean history.
According to Yoon’s spokesman Kim Soo-kyung, Yoon voiced “deep concern over the safety of Lee Jae-myung upon hearing of the attack”. “Yoon emphasised our society should never tolerate this kind of act of violence under any circumstances.”
Lee’s rags-to-riches tale helped him become well-known in politics. He was a teenage school dropout and a child factory worker. It is anticipated that he will seek the presidency once more in 2027, although controversies have clouded his candidacy.
When a court denied the prosecution’s plea to place him under arrest while he awaited trial on several corruption-related accusations in September, he managed to avoid being brought into custody.
Lee is going to trial for allegedly sending $8 million to North Korea and caused a corporation owned by the city of Seongnam to lose 20 billion won through bribery and breach of duty. He has, however, refuted every accusation made against him.
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