During a political event in southern Busan on Tuesday, a man wearing a strange paper crown stabbed South Korean Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck, narrowly removing his carotid artery and forcing the lawmaker to undergo a complex surgical procedure. Ta.
Korean media reported on the Democratic Party, report Late Tuesday, Lee did not appear to have any “life-threatening” injuries.
“It's fortunate that the injury was in the jugular vein,” an anonymous hospital official told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Lee is one of South Korea's most prominent politicians, a leader of a mainstream leftist party and a recent presidential candidate. Lee lost by a narrow margin to conservative current president Yoon Seok-yeol in the 2022 presidential election. abuse Domestic workers and “shamanism” on either side of the spectrum.
Since then, he has won a seat in South Korea's National Assembly, fought bribery allegations, and went on a hunger strike in September to protest false allegations against him.
Lee was on official business Tuesday. visit I went to Busan to inspect the site of the future airport. A livestream shared on his official YouTube account showed the moments before the stabbing, in which he was speaking with allied politicians about infrastructure projects.
Media outlets filmed Lee leaving the scene. A man wearing a blue paper crown with the words “I am Lee Jae-myung'' on it approached the politician and asked for his autograph.
When authorities denied his request, he approached Lee and stabbed him in the neck. Lee collapsed immediately, and people around him used various pieces of cloth to stop the bleeding, which likely saved his life.
of Korea JoongAng Ilbo report There were 41 police officers on duty at the event on Tuesday. None of them intervened to stop the stabbing.
Police identified the suspect only by his surname “Kim,” one of the most common surnames in the country, and said he was 67 years old. “Kim” reportedly used an 18 centimeter (7 inch) knife purchased online in the attack.South Korea Strictly Although civilian ownership of firearms is restricted, all able-bodied individuals learn how to use firearms during military service.
“Kim” reportedly told police that he intended to kill Lee. Authorities are investigating the motive at the time of writing, but some domestic media outlets have reported suggestions that Kim may have been a supporter of Lee at least once.According to multiple reports, “Kim” attended Past events with Democratic leaders wearing the same paper crown, most recently on Dec. 13.
Korean Dong-A Ilbo report Mr. Kim has a history of being a member of the Democratic Party and was said to have registered with the party “last year,” meaning after the 2022 election, but it could not be confirmed whether he was still registered with the party at the time of the stabbing.
Dong-A Ilbo Kim described himself as a self-employed real estate agent who lived an “ordinary” life with his children. The newspaper said Kim was “quiet” and said that by charging low brokerage fees for his services, he helps “low-income people and immigrants” and benefits local communities, or if that's the case. claimed to have interviewed several neighbors who said they did not charge any brokerage fees.
United report Lee is expected to recover, but hospital officials in Seoul said the surgery to repair the damage was more complicated than expected.
File/Lee Jae-myung (center), leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, joins tens of thousands of protesters on September 2, 2023, calling for an end to the release of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean from Fukushima, Japan. Seoul, South Korea. (Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Stabbing incidents are not uncommon in South Korean politics. JoongAng Ilbo He listed several recent incidents against presidents and major political party leaders over the past decade, as well as the dramatic stabbing of the U.S. ambassador.
Former President Park Geun-hye was attacked with a box cutter knife while attending a local government election rally in 2006 when she was the leader of the Conservative Party. She suffered an 11cm long cut on her right cheek.
Former Democratic Progressive Party leader Song Yong-gil was beaten with a blunt object by a YouTuber believed to be a party supporter during the March 2022 presidential election.
On May 5, 2015, then-U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was attacked with a knife by a unification activist in his 50s, resulting in an 11cm long and 3cm deep cut on his face.
Mr. Song was Mr. Lee's campaign chief at the time of the attack. The self-proclaimed “YouTuber” in question, a 70-year-old man, approached him at an election rally in Seoul and hit him over the head with a hammer. The attack required stitches to be treated medically, but Song's life was not in danger.
In a statement to the public, the Democratic Party said, explained He claimed that the stabbing incident was “political terrorism” and a threat to South Korea's democracy. Yun's ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) also condemned the attack, saying its members would treat it as if it had happened to a PPP member.
“Regardless of our political affiliation, we must remain resolute as a united whole and express our hope for a speedy recovery for our political opponents,” Democratic Progressive Party leader Han Dong-hoon said. Said In a statement. “Treatizing this attack as if it had happened to us is something that a sophisticated party and a sophisticated people, like our People Power Party, can do for fellow citizens.”
Yun himself issued The statement expressed “deep concern” for Mr Lee's health and asserted that “this type of violence must never be tolerated under any circumstances.”
