Lee Jae-myung, chief of the Democratic Party, at his office at the Nationwide Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023.
Woohae Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
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, the Yonhap information company documented.
Lee, who narrowly misplaced the 2022 presidential election, is aware and has been transported to a neighborhood university clinic, a get together official and a hearth section formal informed Reuters.
Lee was attacked by an unknown male though touring the site of a proposed airport, Yonhap stated. The attack has remaining him with a gash of about 1 cm on his neck, YTN television documented.
The assailant appeared to be a gentleman in his 50s or 60s, who wore a paper crown with Lee’s identify on it, information photographs showed.
He approached Lee inquiring for an autograph, then suddenly lunged forward and attacked him, information reviews explained. The assailant was quickly subdued and arrested at the scene, Yonhap stated.
Video clips on YTN tv and a different posted on the social media platform X confirmed the assault, with a male lunging at Lee with his arm stretched out. Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground.
Information images showed Lee lying on the ground with his eyes shut and other individuals urgent a handkerchief against the side of his neck.
President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned the attack, stating it was an unacceptable act, his place of work reported. He expressed deep worry for Lee and instructed ideal treatment be offered so he can make a speedy restoration, his place of work stated.
A previous governor of Gyeonggi province, Lee narrowly dropped to conservative Yoon, a former chief prosecutor, in the 2022 presidential election.
Lee is at this time on demo for alleged bribery stemming from a progress task when he was mayor of Seongnam in close proximity to Seoul. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations “fiction” and a “political conspiracy.”
Lee has led the main opposition party considering the fact that August 2022.
South Korea’s following parliamentary elections are slated for April.
Whilst there are stringent limits on gun possession, South Korea has a background of political violence involving other weapons.
Lee’s predecessor, Tune Youthful-gil was attacked in 2022 at a community occasion by an assailant who swung a blunt item against his head, triggering a laceration.
Then conservative opposition party chief Park Geun-hye, who afterwards served as president, was attacked at an event in 2006 with a knife and endured a gash on her confronted that expected surgical procedures.