South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has been stabbed in the neck during a visit to the city of Busan.
Lee Jae-myung after the attack on Tuesday morning in Busan, South Korea. By midafternoon there was still no official word on his condition, but local news reports suggested that his life was not in danger.
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea’s main opposition party, was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday morning by a man who approached him asking for his autograph, the police said.
Mr. Lee, 59, the leader of the liberal Democratic Party, was making his way through a crowd in the port city of Busan when he was attacked, according to the police and live-streamed TV footage of the incident. He had just finished taking questions from journalists after touring the site of a planned airport.
The police in Busan said the assailant, a 66-year-old man, had been detained and was under investigation for a possible charge of attempted murder. But they did not provide details about Mr. Lee’s condition or the motives of the attacker, who they said had used a knife with a five-inch blade.
Mr. Lee was bleeding from the neck before being taken away in an ambulance, according to news reports and photos from the scene. He was taken to a hospital in Busan, then flown to Seoul by helicopter for treatment at Seoul National University Hospital.
He then lunged forward to stab the politician with an 18cm (7in) knife which the attacker said he bought online, police said at a media briefing. The attacker was immediately overpowered and arrested.
Prosecutors plan to bring attempted murder charges against the man, Yonhap said.
By midafternoon, there had been no official statement about Mr. Lee’s condition, but local news reports suggested that his injury was not life-threatening. Kwon Chilseung, a spokesman for his party, said a jugular vein in Mr. Lee’s neck appeared to have been damaged, citing doctors in Busan.
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 what appeared to be a paper or plastic crown, bearing the words “I am Lee Jae-myung.” Supporters and police officers overpowered the man after the stabbing and took him to a police car.
Videos posted on social media show Mr Lee first collapsing into the crowd and then onto the ground, while several people try to restrain the attacker. Photographs after the incident show Mr Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed as someone presses a handkerchief to the side of his neck.
“The man approached Mr. Lee, asking for his autograph in a loud voice,” Son Je-han, a senior investigator with the Busan police, told reporters at a news briefing.
There have been a number of previous cases of South Korean politicians being physically attacked with weapons.
In March 2022, Mr Lee’s predecessor as Democratic Party leader, Song Young-gil, was attacked with a blunt object while campaigning for Mr Lee. He sustained a laceration.
In 2006, conservative party leader Park Geun-hye, who later became president, was attacked with a knife which left a scar on her face. The conservative politician Park Geun-hye, then an opposition leader, was slashed in the face with a box cutter by a man who had been a vehement critic of her. Ms. Park went on to win the 2012 presidential election.
In 1979, her father Park Chung-hee, who was president for 16 years, was shot and killed by his spy chief at a private dinner.
The Democratic Party considers the stabbing of Mr. Lee an “act of terror” and an “attack against democracy,” said Mr. Kwon, the party spokesman.