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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s tough-speaking liberal opposition chief, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed within the neck by an unidentified knife-wielding man throughout a go to Tuesday to the southeastern metropolis of Busan, police stated.
Lee, 59, the pinnacle of the principle opposition Democratic Celebration, was airlifted to a Seoul hospital for surgical procedure after receiving emergency therapy in Busan. Police and emergency officers earlier stated he was acutely aware after the assault and wasn’t in crucial situation, however his actual standing was unknown.
The assault occurred as Lee walked via a crowd of journalists and others after a tour of the proposed web site of a brand new airport in Busan. The attacker approached Lee, saying he wished to get his autograph, after which stabbed him within the left facet of his neck with a knife, senior Busan police officer Sohn Jae-han stated in a televised briefing.
Sohn stated Democratic Celebration officers close to Lee shortly subdued the attacker earlier than cops detained him. He stated 41 cops had been deployed to the realm for crowd management and visitors administration.
TV footage confirmed Lee, his eyes closed, mendacity on the bottom as an individual pressed a handkerchief to his neck to cease the bleeding. A witness, Jin Jeong-hwa, advised YTN tv that Lee had bled rather a lot. Movies circulated on social media confirmed the suspect, sporting a paper crown studying “I’m Lee Jae-myung,” being chased and tackled by a number of folks, apparently together with plainclothes cops.
Sohn stated the suspect, aged about 67, advised investigators that he purchased the 18-centimeter (7-inch) knife on-line. He stated police are investigating the motive for the assault.
Lee’s Democratic Celebration referred to as the incident “a terrorist assault on Lee and a critical risk to democracy.” It referred to as on police to make a via, swift investigation.
At Pusan Nationwide College Hospital in Busan, the place Lee acquired emergency therapy, occasion spokesperson Kwon Chil-seung stated Lee’s jugular vein was believed to have been broken and there was concern over the big quantity of bleeding. Hospital officers wouldn’t touch upon Lee’s situation.
President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed deep concern about Lee’s well being and ordered authorities to research the assault, saying such violence wouldn’t be tolerated, in accordance with Yoon’s workplace.
Lee misplaced the 2022 presidential election to Yoon by 0.7 share level, the narrowest margin ever recorded in a South Korean presidential election. Current public surveys indicated Lee and his most important conservative rival Han Dong-hoon, a former justice minister, are the 2 early favorites to succeed Yoon as president when his single five-year time period ends in 2027.
Since his election defeat, Lee has been a harsh critic of Yoon’s main insurance policies. Final yr, Lee held a 24-day starvation strike to protest what he referred to as Yoon’s failure to oppose Japan’s launch of handled radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima nuclear energy, his dealing with of the nation’s post-pandemic economic system and his hard-line insurance policies on North Korea.
Lee faces an array of corruption allegations, together with that he supplied illegal favors to a non-public investor who reaped enormous earnings from a doubtful housing venture within the metropolis of Seongnam, the place Lee was mayor for a decade till 2018. Lee has denied authorized wrongdoing and accused Yoon’s authorities of pursuing a political vendetta.
Final September, a South Korean courtroom denied an arrest warrant for Lee over the allegations, however Lee reportedly faces a unbroken investigation by prosecutors. The courtroom listening to was organized after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to elevate Lee’s immunity to arrest, a transfer that mirrored rising divisions inside his Democratic Celebration over his authorized troubles.
Lee, who additionally served as governor of Gyeonggi province, which surrounds Seoul, is understood for his outspoken model. His supporters see him as an anti-elitist hero who might reform institution politics, eradicate corruption and remedy rising financial inequality. Critics view him as a harmful populist who depends on stoking divisions and demonizing his conservative opponents.
Violence towards high-profile figures has generally occurred in South Korea lately.
In March 2022, Track Younger-gil, then the chief of the Democratic Celebration, was assaulted by a person wielding a hammer throughout a rally for Lee forward of the presidential vote. Track was handled for stitches however averted critical harm.
In 2015, then-U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was slashed within the face and arm by an anti-American activist. The assault required 80 stitches to shut the lower on Lippert’s face.
In 2006, Park Geun-hye, then a conservative opposition chief, was knifed by a person with a field cutter throughout an election rally. She was given 60 stitches to shut an 11-centimeter (4-inch) gash on her face. Park was elected president in 2012.
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