South Korean opposition social gathering chief, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed within the neck on Tuesday whereas speaking to reporters within the port metropolis of Busan.
Jae-myung was strolling in a crowd of journalists after visiting the positioning of a brand new airport when a person in entrance of him lunged and struck him within the neck, footage on South Korean tv channels confirmed.
The 59-year-old was seen collapsing to the bottom as folks rushed to help him.
One man was seen urgent a handkerchief on Jae-myung’s neck.
He was “strolling to his automobile whereas speaking to reporters when the attacker requested for his autograph”, a witness instructed native broadcaster YTN, including that the opposition chief was then struck with what “appeared like a knife.”
Emergency responders have been seen carrying Jae-myung into an ambulance. He was later taken to hospital on a helicopter, in response to the Yonhap information company.
The company mentioned he was bleeding however acutely aware as he was transported to the Pusan Nationwide College Hospital.
“That is an act of terror towards Lee and a critical menace to democracy that ought to by no means happen below any circumstances,” Kwon Chil-seung, an MP from Lee’s Democratic Social gathering, instructed reporters exterior the hospital.
“As to Lee’s situation, we’re ready for the medical workers’s evaluation,” he added, demanding a “thorough” police investigation into the assault.
Police in Busan mentioned Jae-myung suffered a “one-centimetre laceration on his neck” and that he “stays acutely aware and bleeding is minor”, in response to South Korean information outlet Chosun Ilbo.
TV footage confirmed police officers wrestling the attacker to the bottom. He was seen sporting a hat with Jae-myung’s title on it.
Yonhap mentioned the assailant has been arrested.
Presidential contender
Jae-myung misplaced in 2022 to conservative Yoon Yeol within the tightest presidential race in South Korea’s historical past.
Yoon expressed “deep concern over the security of Jae-myung upon listening to of the assault,” his spokeswoman Kim Soo-kyung mentioned.
“Yoon emphasised our society ought to by no means tolerate this sort of act of violence below any circumstances,” she acknowledged.
A former little one manufacturing facility employee who suffered an industrial accident as a teenage faculty drop-out, Jae-myung rose to political stardom partly by taking part in up his rags-to-riches story.
He’s broadly anticipated to run for president once more in 2027, and up to date polls have indicated that he stays a robust contender.
However Jae-myung’s bid for the highest workplace has been overshadowed by a string of scandals.
He averted arrest in September when a court docket dismissed a request from the prosecution for him to be taken into custody pending trial on numerous corruption prices.
Jae-myung nonetheless faces trial on prices of bribery in reference to a agency that’s suspected of illicitly transferring $8 million to North Korea.
He’s additionally accused of breaching his duties, allegedly leading to a lack of 20 billion received ($15 million) for an organization owned by Seongnam metropolis throughout his time period as its mayor.
Jae-myung has denied all allegations towards him.
In August final yr, he launched a starvation strike towards what he referred to as the Yoon authorities’s “incompetent and violent” insurance policies.
He was hospitalised due to fasting-related illnesses on September 18 after not consuming for 19 days.
AFP