A knife attack injures a South Korean opposition leader.
South Korea’s SEOUL During a visit to the southeast city of Busan on Tuesday, the opposition leader of South Korea was stabbed in the neck by an as-yet-unidentified assailant, according to officials.
The chairman of the Democratic Party of South Korea, Lee Jae-myung, suffered a non-life-threatening injury, according to a municipal police officer.
According to the official, Lee was conscious and had not lost much blood, as NBC News reported.
The head detective of the Busan Regional Police, Sohn Jae-han, announced during a briefing on Tuesday that a male suspect in his 60s from the south Choongchung province is under arrest.
The suspect admitted he “tried to kill” Lee with the 7-inch-long knife he was carrying, and the police would look into his case on “attempted murder charges,” he said.
He said that as soon as the event happened, Lee’s team “restrained” the suspect.
Images of him on the ground with people around him were captured. Lee’s neck appears to be being pressed against by someone in the pictures. Lee is seen in another picture being transported on a stretcher with what looks to be a neck brace.
Less than half an inch was the length of the wound, according to the police official who talked with NBC News.
Democratic Party spokesman Kwon Chil-seung stated in a briefing that “so far, doctors suspect that (the party chairman) may be suffering from jugular vein damages.”
He added that Lee would have surgery after being transferred to the national capital’s Seoul National University Hospital and that there was a chance he would bleed excessively or further.
He declared, “We vehemently denounce the act of terror, and it is evident that this is an attempt to subvert democracy.”
According to a presidential spokesperson, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol gave police and other officials orders to look into the attack and make sure Lee gets “the best of care.”
The spokeswoman added, “The president also emphasized zero tolerance for violence and stated that violence should never be tolerated under any circumstances.”
The Associated Press reported, citing emergency officials, that Lee was touring the site of a new airport being built in Busan when the attack happened.
The identity of the culprit remains unknown, and the authorities withheld further information regarding the nature of the incident.
Yoon defeated Lee by 0.7 percentage points in the 2022 presidential contest, the smallest margin ever seen in a South Korean presidential election. Although Lee is the target of numerous accusations of corruption, he has maintained his innocence and charged Yoon’s government with having a personal grudge.
Song Young-gil, Lee’s predecessor, was attacked in 2022 by a guy brandishing what appeared to be a hammer.
Mark Lippert, the American ambassador to South Korea, was stabbed in the face and arm by a guy brandishing a knife in 2015.
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