SEOUL: South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southern city of Busan on Tuesday and was airlifted to a university hospital, party and fire officials said.
Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election, was conscious and receiving emergency treatment after being attacked by an unidentified man while touring the site of a proposed airport, the officials told Reuters.
The attack left him with a gash of about 1 cm on his neck, YTN television reported. Hospital officials did not immediately confirm the details of his injury.
Lee was airlifted by a fire department helicopter to the Pusan National University Hospital, a party official and emergency officials told Reuters.
“He is conscious and receiving treatment at the hospital,” a Democratic Party official told Reuters.
The assailant appeared to be a man in his 50s or 60s, who wore a paper crown with Lee’s name on it, news photographs showed.
The man approached and asked for an autograph as Lee spoke among a throng of supporters and reporters, then lunged forward and attacked him, video footage showed.
Jin Jeong-hwa, a Lee supporter who was at the scene livestreaming the event, told Reuters there were two dozen police officers present.
The assailant was quickly subdued by men including police officers, the footage showed.
He was refusing to answer police questions about his motives, daily Busan Ilbo reported.
Video clips on YTN television and another posted on X showed a man lunging at Lee with his arm stretched out. Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground.
News photographs showed Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed and bleeding, and people pressing a handkerchief against his neck.
President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned the attack and instructed best care be given, his office said.
“This type of violence must never be tolerated under any circumstances,” his office quoted Yoon as saying.
A former governor of Gyeonggi province, Lee narrowly lost to conservative Yoon, a former chief prosecutor, in the 2022 presidential election. He has led the main opposition party since August 2022.
Lee is currently on trial for alleged bribery stemming from a development project when he was mayor of Seongnam near Seoul.
He has denied any wrongdoing.