The leader of the South Korean liberal Democratic Party, who lost in the country’s last presidential election, was stabbed in the neck while walking through a crowd Tuesday morning.
Lee Jae-myung, 59, had just toured the site of a planned airport and finished taking questions from journalists when a man approached him and asked for his autograph before lunging at him with a knife, The New York Times reported. Video footage captured the attack, showing the man making his way through the crowd before attacking the political leader.
Lee was transported to a hospital in Busan, South Korea, before being flown by helicopter to Seoul. According to a spokesman for the liberal Democratic Party, Jae-myung was conscious and recovering from a two-hour-long surgery, which repaired blood clots and his damaged jugular vein. Doctors said the stab wound was not life-threatening, the BBC reported.
“It was a close call because it was not an artery, but a vein” that was stabbed, said Jung Chungrae, a senior member of Lee’s party, according to the Times.
Police detained a 66-year-old man following the attack and are investigating him for a possible charge of attempted murder. The suspect reportedly dressed as a supporter of Lee, wearing a plastic crown with the words, “I am Lee Jae-myung.” Authorities said the suspect used a knife with a blade between 5 and 7 inches long.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed “deep concern” for Lee after the stabbing and ordered his government to conduct a quick investigation into the attack. Yoon condemned the stabbing, saying, “[T]his form of violence should not be tolerated under any circumstances in our society.”
The liberal Democratic Party called the stabbing attack on its leader an “act of terror” and an “attack against democracy.”
Lee narrowly lost to Yoon, a conservative, in the 2022 election, which was the closest presidential election in South Korea’s history. After his election loss, Lee has faced multiple corruption charges, including allegations that he granted favors to a private investor that profited off a questionable housing project in Seongnam, a city where Lee was a mayor from 2010 to 2018.
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Lee went on a three-week hunger strike last year to protest the charges against him, accusing Yoon of targeting his political rival in an attempt to intimidate his opponents. Last September, a South Korean court denied an arrest warrant for Lee, finding no clear risk that he would destroy evidence. In its denial of the warrant, the court also said the evidence collected by prosecutors raises “substantial suspicion” about his involvement in the Seongnam housing case.
South Koreans are divided over Yoon and Lee as supporters of each politician view the opposing leader as corrupt. Lee, who currently holds a seat in the South Korean parliament, is widely expected to run for president again in 2027.