The leader of the South Korean Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday during a public event in the city of Busan and was flown to the South Korean capital for emergency surgery.
The incident took place at 10:27 a.m. local time (1:27 a.m. GMT) during an event with reporters on the site of the new Busan airport (about 350 kilometers southeast of Seoul) on Gadeok Island when a man, wearing a crown that read "I am Lee Jae-myung," lunged at the leader of South Korea's main opposition bloc and stabbed him on the left side of the neck.
Lee was taken to the hospital in conscious condition by an ambulance about 20 minutes later with significant bleeding. After receiving emergency care at Pusan National University Hospital, Lee was flown by helicopter to the capital for surgery at Seoul National University Hospital.
The attacker, a 67-year-old man identified only by the surname Kim, held up a notebook and a pen in his left hand as he asked Lee for an autograph before making a surprise attack on the leader of the liberal Democratic Party (DP).
Using his right hand, Kim stabbed Lee in the left side of Lee's neck with an 18-centimeter knife, causing him to fall to the ground as security officials pounced on the attacker, who was arrested on the spot.
Kim, a native of South Chungcheong province, admitted that he attacked the politician with the intention of killing him, although he has not yet explained his motivations or whether he is affiliated with a political party.
It is now known that Kim bought the knife online and attended another public event for Lee in Busan on December 13.
Footage uploaded to YouTube shows Kim unsuccessfully trying to get close to Lee during the event, in which she wore the same cardboard crown.
After the attack, members of the PD were in charge of covering Lee's wound while the ambulance arrived and transferred him to the National University Hospital of Pusan, still in a conscious state but with heavy bleeding.
Lee Jae-myung underwent successful surgery
There he received emergency care for the wound before being flown by helicopter to Seoul National University Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.
"The operation has taken longer than expected, but it has been completed and we are now closely monitoring its evolution," Jung Chung-rae, a member of the DP's supreme council, said outside the latter hospital, according to Yonhap news agency.
Doctors have not yet given an official report on Lee's health, but Jung said the staff at the Busan medical center who treated him first said that "it was fortunate that the stab wound affected only the jugular vein and not the carotid artery."
Both South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and the leader of the ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP), Han Dong-hoon, strongly condemned the attack and called for a thorough investigation.
"This should never have happened under any circumstances," DP spokesman Kwon Chil-seung told reporters outside Seoul National University Hospital.
Unknown ahead of the April elections
Lee's state of health now poses a new question for the PD ahead of the important legislative elections next April.
In recent weeks, doubts have already been raised about whether Lee would make it to the polls as opposition leader in the face of internal pressure demanding that he step down.
The coercion stems from ongoing investigations into Lee's alleged involvement in corruption schemes when he was mayor of Seongnam, a city on the outskirts of Seoul, and governor of Gyeonggi, the country's most populous province.
In the April elections, the DP aims to maintain its majority in the National Assembly (Parliament) and prevent the PPP from taking control of the chamber and thus facilitate Yoon's work at the head of the government.