“The damage to the internal jugular vein has been confirmed,” said Kwon Chil-seung, a member of the Democratic Party (DP), in Seoul after the surgery. Lee “is currently in intensive care and recovering,” Kwon added.
According to emergency services in the port city of Busan, the incident happened at 10:27, while the leader of the Democratic Party (PD) was speaking to journalists at a press conference at the new local airport on Gadeok island.
A man, whose identity has not yet been revealed, approached Lee and stabbed him in the left side of the neck. The South Korean news agency Yonhap published a photograph showing the politician on the ground with a scarf covering the wound.
Lee was taken to the hospital after about 20 minutes, conscious despite having severe bleeding, while the attacker was immediately detained, according to Yonhap. The PD leader lost the 2022 presidential elections to the current President, the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, by a narrow margin.
During the campaign, Lee, former governor of Gyeonggi province, South Korea’s most populous, had proposed some innovative measures, including the creation of a universal minimum income and free school uniforms.
*With Lusa
