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South Korean opposition leader is stabbed

South Korean opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung gestures to his supporters during an election campaign in Seoul on March 3, 2022. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP)
By Choe Sang-Hun New York Times

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea’s main opposition party, was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday, according to the police and livestreamed TV footage of the incident.

Mr. Lee, the leader of the Democratic Party, was visiting the southern port city of Busan when an unidentified man stabbed him in the neck with a knife like weapon, according to the footage.

Mr. Lee, 59, was leaving through a crowd of reporters and supporters when the attack happened. The police in Busan said the attacker had been detained, but they did not provide any details about Mr. Lee’s condition or the motives of the attacker.

Mr. Lee was bleeding from the neck before being taken away in an ambulance, according to news reports and photos taken at the scene of the attack.

Footage from the attack showed the assailant approaching Mr. Lee through a group of TV camera operators, apparently posing as one of his supporters; he was wearing crown-shaped headgear bearing Mr. Lee’s name.

Supporters of Mr. Lee and police officers overpowered the man after the attack and took him to a police car.

Mr. Lee was narrowly defeated by Yoon Suk Yeol in South Korea’s last presidential election, in 2022. He has since been subjected to a series of investigations by state prosecutors on corruption and other criminal charges.

He denied all the charges against him and went on a 19-day hunger strike in protest, accusing Mr. Yoon of using the criminal justice system to intimidate his political opponents. A court refused to allow prosecutors to arrest Mr. Lee, but he faces the prospect of a series of trials. Mr. Yoon expressed “deep concern” about Mr. Lee’s safety after the attack on Tuesday, ordering his government to carry out a quick investigation and to provide support for the opposition leader’s medical treatment, the president’s office said in a statement.

“The president emphasized that this form of violence should not be tolerated under any circumstances in our society,” the statement said.This article was originally published in The New York Times.