Attack in South Korea: opposition leader injured
South Korea's Democratic Party leader, Lee Jae-myung , was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southern city of Busan on Tuesday and was airlifted to a university hospital for treatment, party officials and officials said. of the firefighters.
Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election, was conscious and airlifted to Seoul National University in the capital after receiving emergency treatment at Pusan National University Hospital, the party spokesperson Kwon Chil-seung.
The transfer to Seoul was made possible after medical staff determined his condition was not life-threatening based on emergency treatment and a CT scan, an official at Pusan National University Hospital told Reuters .
Kwon, speaking outside the hospital soon after Lee was airlifted, said medical staff at Pusan National University Hospital suspected damage to the jugular vein that carries blood from the head to the heart.
“According to medical personnel, there is concern that there may be a large hemorrhage or further bleeding,” Kwon said.
The attack was swift and sudden, as can be seen from the videos of what happened. The assailant – who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s and wore a paper crown bearing Lee's name – approached and asked for an autograph as Lee spoke amid a crowd of supporters and journalists, then lunged. forward and attacked him.
Television footage and a video on social media platform X showed the man lunging with his arm outstretched and stabbing Lee in the neck; the force of the attack pushed Lee back into the crowd behind him.
Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground.
BREAKING:
The main opposition leader of South Korea was just stabbed in the throat at a press conference
The party leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung lost the presidential election in 2022 with 1% (47% vs 48%)
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 2, 2024
News photos show Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed and bleeding, while people press handkerchiefs to his neck.
Jin Jeong-hwa, a Lee supporter who was at the site to livestream the event, told Reuters that more than two dozen police officers were present.
This is not the first instance of political violence in South Korea : a woman with a hammer hidden in her traditional dress attacked and injured Song Young-gil, Lee's predecessor at the helm of the Democratic Party, in 2022. The tone of the political struggle in South Korea they are always very heated. In 2015 the American ambassador was wounded in the face by another attacker.
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The article Attack in South Korea: opposition leader injured comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/attentato-in-corea-del-sud-ferito-il-leader-dellopposizione/ on Tue, 02 Jan 2024 07:28:40 +0000.