SKorea: Opposition Leader Recovering From Surgery After Knife Attack

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Facts

  • South Korea's Democratic Party stated on Tuesday that its chairman, Lee Jae-myung, had his emergency surgery completed at Seoul National University Hospital after being stabbed in the neck in the port city of Busan, with his progress closely monitored.1
  • Kwon Chil-seung, the spokesperson for the Democratic Party, added that Lee was recovering in the intensive care unit following a two-hour successful operation to repair his jugular vein as he sustained a one-centimeter wound to the left side of his neck.2
  • The main opposition leader was airlifted to Seoul from Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, where he arrived about 20 minutes after a man in his 60s attacked him with a knife while apparently asking for his autograph. The assailant was arrested at the scene and reportedly confessed to the attempted assassination.3
  • The late morning stabbing came as Lee walked through a crowd of reporters after finishing a visit to the construction site of a new airport on Gadeok Island off Busan before a planned lunch with former Pres. Moon Jae-in ahead of elections in April.4
  • Lee has narrowly lost the 2022 presidential elections by a margin of just 0.7 percentage points, the closest race ever in the country. He has vocally criticized Pres. Yoon Suk Yeol since then, but he has faced growing divisions within his party over multiple corruption allegations.5
  • Though the crime rate is generally low in South Korea, the country isn't immune to physical assaults with weapons on politicians as party leaders have been attacked with objects at least two other times this century. In addition, in 1979, then-Pres. Park Chung-hee was shot and killed by his spy chief at a private dinner.6

Sources: 1Yonhap News Agency, 2Koreajoongangdaily, 3Koreatimes, 4Korea Herald, 5CBS and 6BBC News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Dimsum Daily. This shocking knife attack reflects how politically polarized South Korea is. The South risks dangerously descending into destructive chaos where incidents of political violence may be normalized if leaders from both sides fail to address the root causes. South Korea must isolate extremists and promote reconciliation to heal society.
  • Narrative B, as provided by GulfToday. It's unlikely that an alleged surge in political violence is behind this stabbing. As previously seen in South Korea and also in Japan, individual assailants are often either mentally insane or have personal grudges toward political leaders and may seize the opportunity to easily attack their targets when not in office. Rather than focusing on extremists, officials should improve accountability and openness.

Predictions