Man Asks South Korean Opposition Leader Lee Jae-myung for Autograph, Then Stabs Him in Neck

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday during his visit to Busan, a southeastern port city in South Korea, news agency Yonhap said in a report. The chief of the main opposition party in South Korea, the Democratic Party, was stabbed on the left side of his neck while he was talking to reporters in Busan’s Gadeok Island.

The assailant was arrested from the scene. The leader was touring the construction site of a new airport on Busan’s Gadeok Island.

According to Korean news outlets and broadcasters, a man lunged at Lee and struck him in the neck with an object. The leader then collapsed as people rushed to aid him.

The news agencies said Lee was conscious as he was taken to the hospital.

The Democratic Party chief lost to conservative and current President Yoon Suk Yeol in a tight presidential race last year. Lee is a former child factory worker and suffered an industrial accident. He was a school drop-out and has used this rags-to-riches backstory to make his political ascent. However, his desire to lead the most important post was marred by a string of scandals.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has expressed deep concern for his rival. “Yoon emphasised our society should never tolerate this kind of act of violence under any circumstances,” his spokeswoman Kim Soo-kyung was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

Assailant Asked for Autograph

South Korean broadcaster YTN citing a witness said that the opposition leader was “walking to his car while talking to reporters when the attacker asked for his autograph”. The witness then added that Lee was then struck with what “looked like a knife”.

Lee was carried into an ambulance and then taken to a hospital on a helicopter.

Cops in Busan said Lee suffered a “one-centimetre laceration on his neck” and that he is conscious and his bleeding minor, according to South Korean news outlet Chosun Ilbo.

TV footage showed police officials wrestling the attacker to the ground. He was seen wearing a hat with Lee’s name on it.