South Korean opposition chief Lee Jae-myung, middle, speaks as he visits the development website of a brand new airport in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. Lee was attacked and injured by an unidentified man throughout a go to Tuesday to the southeastern metropolis of Busan, emergency officers stated.

Sohn Hyung-joo/AP

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Sohn Hyung-joo/AP

South Korean opposition chief Lee Jae-myung, middle, speaks as he visits the development website of a brand new airport in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. Lee was attacked and injured by an unidentified man throughout a go to Tuesday to the southeastern metropolis of Busan, emergency officers stated.

Sohn Hyung-joo/AP

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean opposition chief Lee Jae-myung was stabbed within the neck throughout a go to within the southeast metropolis of Busan on Tuesday, police stated, as few particulars in regards to the motive for the assault have been instantly obtainable.

Lee, the chairperson of the principle opposition Democratic Party, was leaving an occasion on Gadeok island, when an unidentified man pressed by way of a packed crowd of reporters and supporters and attacked him on the left facet of his neck, in response to a livestream video of the incident.

Lee, who was seen collapsing on the bottom and bleeding in photos by native media, was taken to the Pusan National University Hospital.

In a press convention outdoors the hospital, Democratic Party spokesperson Rep. Kwon Chil-seung stated that medical professionals “suspect injury to his jugular vein” and “are concerned about additional loss of blood.” Kwon stated Lee shall be transported to Seoul for surgical procedure.

Kwon referred to as the assault “an act of terrorism against Lee Jae-myung and a serious threat to democracy.”

The attacker apparently posed as a supporter of Lee’s, the livestream footage exhibits, sporting a headpiece with a supportive message towards Lee. He was arrested on the scene and is being investigated by the police.

The assault comes simply three months earlier than South Korea’s normal elections, a high-stakes occasion for each the ruling conservative People Power Party and Lee’s Democratic Party.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who defeated Lee in the 2022 election with the paper-thin margin of 0.73% of the favored vote – the smallest within the nation’s historical past – has steadily clashed with the parliament, the place the DP holds greater than 56% of seats.

Yoon’s approval scores have remained at or beneath 35% by way of the previous 12 months. His get together misplaced an important by-election in a Seoul ward final 12 months, and the get together’s former chief Lee Jun-seok, who’s broadly credited for bringing younger male voters to Yoon’s help, just lately left the get together.

The DP and different opposition events are pushing for a particular probe on the suspected inventory worth manipulation scandal involving Yoon’s spouse.

Lee, in the meantime, has been below intensive investigations by the police and prosecutors for his suspected involvement in a land improvement scandal and different prison prices.

Support for his get together has been much like or barely beneath the approval scores of the ruling get together in current months, because the DP struggled with a bribery scandal involving a former chief and a variety of lawmakers.

Lee’s go to in Busan on Tuesday – his first official schedule of the brand new 12 months – is seen as an effort to woo help within the port metropolis, which has historically been conservative-leaning.

Construction of a brand new airport, which was finalized throughout the liberal president Moon Jae-in’s time period, is deliberate to interrupt floor subsequent 12 months on the island the place Tuesday’s assault happened.

President Yoon, in response to his spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung, expressed deep concern over Lee’s security and stated such acts of violence ought to by no means be tolerated.

South Korea has seen a variety of assaults towards high-profile politicians in recent times. In 2006, Park Geun-hye, the then head of a conservative get together who later grew to become the president, was attacked with a knife throughout a marketing campaign occasion. Last 12 months, Lee Jae-myung’s predecessor Song Young-gil was attacked with a blunt weapon in Seoul.

In 2015, the then-U.S. ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was attacked on his face by an assailant wielding a knife.