South Korean opposition chief Lee Jae-myung on a stretcher arrives at a heliport in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. Lee was stabbed within the neck by an unidentified knife-wielding man throughout a go to Tuesday to the southeastern metropolis of Busan, police stated.
| Photo Credit: AP
South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party chief Lee Jae-myung remained hospitalised in intensive care on January 3, a day after a knife assault on him shocked political leaders who had been vying for the higher hand in a serious election three months away.
Surgeons operated on Mr. Lee for greater than two hours late on January 3 to restore a serious blood vessel in his neck that was sliced when an assailant lunged and stabbed him with a knife.
“The act of terror against Chairman Lee Jae-myung was clearly a challenge against democracy and a threat against democracy,” Democratic Party ground chief Hong Ik-pyo stated at a celebration management council assembly.
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He urged a speedy investigation and more durable safety for high-profile political figures, echoing renewed questions concerning the security on marketing campaign trails in a rustic with a historical past of political violence regardless of tight restrictions on gun possession.
Jin Jeong-hwa, a celebration supporter who was a witness on the scene of the stabbing, stated the incident clearly confirmed the necessity for stronger {and professional} safety safety for political leaders, not merely police who’re deployed to watch.
“People like opposition leaders really need a dedicated security detail,” Mr. Jin stated in an interview with Reuters. He added it was clear from his expertise at political occasions that Mr. Lee was very a lot uncovered to private security threats.
Mr. Lee, a tough-talking progressive who narrowly misplaced the 2022 presidential election, had been rallying the occasion to retain the parliamentary majority it holds in opposition to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservatives.
South Korea holds a pivotal election on April 10 the place the conservatives will attempt to win again a majority for the primary time since 2016 and assist Mr. Yoon’s pro-business insurance policies together with tax cuts, deregulation and social reforms.
The assault in opposition to Mr. Lee, which unfolded rapidly however was extensively captured in footage of the out of doors public occasion, shocked his occasion and his rivals alike, who condemned all violence in opposition to political figures.
Mr. Yoon once more condemned the assault as “terror” and stated: “It is an enemy of liberal democracy,” in keeping with his workplace. He wished Mr. Lee a speedy restoration, it stated.
Mr. Lee was airlifted from Busan, the place the assault occurred, to Seoul on January 2 the place he acquired surgical procedure to reconstruct the jugular vein that pumps blood from the pinnacle again to the center and insert a tube to assist the broken vessel.
He was aware and recovering within the intensive care unit, occasion officers stated.
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The suspect, who was rapidly subdued by occasion members and cops on the scene, was a person born in 1957 from the central area who could have been in Busan for days, planning the assault with an 18-cm (7-inch) tenting knife, police and news reviews stated.
The chief of the conservative People Power Party scaled again scheduled public occasions, and each events urged members to chorus from feedback that would inflame voters as Mr. Lee recuperates.
Mr. Lee misplaced to Mr. Yoon by lower than 1% level of votes, the narrowest margin, in a bitterly fought presidential election and has since confronted bribery allegations stemming from a improvement challenge when he was mayor of a metropolis close to Seoul. He denies wrongdoing.
Source: www.thehindu.com
