2024-01-02 09:42:00
While speaking to journalists in the port city of Busan, South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday, January 2, in southeast Korea South, reported the Yonhap news agency, which published a photo in which the politician appears on the ground, a handkerchief covering his wound.
After visiting the site of a new airport, Lee Jae-myung, 59, was walking in the port city, surrounded by a swarm of journalists, when a man stabbed him in the neck, according to images broadcast by the local television. He then collapsed to the ground as several people rushed to help him and cover his injury.
Busan police said Lee Jae-myung suffered “a one-centimeter laceration to his neck” and that “the bleeding was minor,” according to the daily. Chosun Ilbo. He was still conscious when he was taken to hospital.
According to images broadcast by South Korean television, police officers struggled with the attacker and pinned him to the ground. The latter wore a headgear with Lee Jae-myung’s name on it. The attacker was later arrested, according to Yonhap.
A “serious threat to democracy”
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed his “deep concern” on Tuesday after this attack. “Yoon Suk-yeol stressed that our society should never tolerate this type of act of violence, regardless of the circumstances,” reported the spokesperson for the South Korean presidency.
“This is an act of terror against Lee Jae-myung and a serious threat to democracy that should never happen, regardless of the circumstances,” said Democratic Party lawmaker Kwon Chil- seung, outside the hospital. “As for Lee Jae-myung’s state of health, we are awaiting the doctors’ assessment,” he added, demanding the opening of a “thorough” investigation.
Unlucky candidate in the last presidential election
Lee Jae-myung, a former worker and governor of the country’s most populous province and now head of the Democratic Party, had proposed original measures, including a universal minimum income and free school uniforms. But his presidential candidacy was marred by a series of scandals. He was notably criticized for a real estate transaction considered dubious. There were also persistent rumors that he had links with the mafia and his wife was accused of illegal use of public funds. He lost the election to conservative Yoon Suk-yeol in 2022.
The following year, Lee Jae-myung avoided arrest after a court rejected a prosecutor’s request for remand in custody pending trial on various corruption charges. He is suspected of corruption in connection with a company that allegedly illegally transferred $8 million to North Korea.
He is also accused of causing a company owned by the city of Seongnam (Northwest) of which he was mayor to lose 20 billion won ($15 million).
After attending law school, Lee Jae-myung became a human rights lawyer and entered politics in 2010. In 2018, he was elected governor of Gyeonggi Province. On August 31, he began a hunger strike to denounce the “incompetent and violent” policies of the current conservative government. After not eating for 19 days, the politician was hospitalized.
Lee Jae-myung Lee is expected to run again in the presidential election in 2027, a vote for which he is a strong opponent according to recent polls.
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