After knife attack: South Korean opposition leader Lee recovers

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The 59-year-old’s health must be closely monitored as the wound could lead to complications.

As a result of the attack, Lee “suffered a 1.4 centimeter stab wound” that injured parts of his vein, the doctor said. However, there is no evidence of damage to arteries, cranial nerves, throat or airways. Lee was wounded in the neck in a knife attack on Tuesday at a construction site in the port city of Busan in the south of the country. According to recent polls, he is considered a promising candidate for the 2027 presidential elections.

The attacker was a 66-year-old man who posed as a Lee supporter at a rally and then suddenly charged at the politician. According to Yonhap news agency, the man said during an initial interrogation that he wanted to kill Lee. Yonhap said Thursday that a court in Busan is considering an arrest warrant filed by prosecutors for attempted murder.

Television footage showed Lee collapsed, people rushed to help him and a cloth was pressed against his neck. The 59-year-old was first taken to a hospital in Busan and then flown to a clinic in the capital Seoul. According to the party, he underwent surgery there for two hours. On Wednesday, Lee was transferred from the intensive care unit to the general ward.

Lee’s Democratic Party said it was “pure luck” that its leader was still alive. Accordingly, he could have been killed if the attacker’s knife had struck the artery and not the vein.

Politicians have been the target of physical attacks in South Korea several times. In 2022, Lee’s predecessor as Democratic Party leader Song Young Gil was hit on the head with an object by an elderly man. In 2006, then-conservative leader Park Geun Hye, who later became the country’s president, was attacked with a knife during a rally.

(SDA)

Source: Blick