Video clips on YTN television showed a man lunging at Lee with his arm stretched out. Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground. This masthead has chosen not to publish the graphic footage.
The crowd reacts after South Korean opposition party chief Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck.Credit: YTN
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News photographs later showed Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed and hands of other people around him pressing a handkerchief against the side of his neck.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned the attack, saying it was an unacceptable act, his office said. He expressed deep concern for Lee and instructed best care be given so he can make a speedy recovery.
Lee, a former governor of Gyeonggi province, narrowly lost to conservative Yoon, a former chief prosecutor, in the 2022 presidential election.
Lee, who has led the main opposition party since August 2022, is on trial for alleged bribery stemming from a development project when he was mayor of Seongnam near Seoul. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations “fiction” and a “political conspiracy”.
South Korea’s next parliamentary elections are slated for April.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, in Seoul last year.Credit: Bloomberg
Although there are strict restrictions on gun possession, South Korea has a history of political violence involving other weapons.
Lee’s predecessor, Song Young-gil, was attacked in 2022 at a public event by an assailant who swung a blunt object against his head, causing a laceration.
Then conservative opposition party leader Park Geun-hye, who later served as president, was attacked at an event in 2006 with a knife and suffered a gash on her faced that required surgery.
Reuters
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