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Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea\u2019s main opposition party, was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday morning by a man who approached him asking for his autograph, the police said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Lee, 59, the leader of the liberal Democratic Party, was making his way through a crowd in the port city of Busan when he was attacked, according to the police and live-streamed TV footage of the incident. He had just finished taking questions from journalists after touring the site of a planned airport.<\/p>\n
The police in Busan said the assailant, a 66-year-old man, had been detained and was under investigation for a possible charge of attempted murder. But they did not provide details about Mr. Lee\u2019s condition or the motives of the attacker, who they said had used a knife with a five-inch blade.<\/p>\n
Mr. Lee was bleeding from the neck before being taken away in an ambulance, according to news reports and photos from the scene. He was taken to a hospital in Busan, then flown to Seoul by helicopter for treatment at Seoul National University Hospital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
By midafternoon, there had been no official statement about Mr. Lee\u2019s condition, but local news reports suggested that his injury was not life-threatening. Kwon Chilseung, a spokesman for his party, said \u200ba jugular vein\u200b in Mr. Lee\u2019s neck appeared to have been damaged, citing doctors in Busan.<\/p>\n
\u200bFootage from the attack showed the assailant approaching Mr. Lee through a group of TV camera operators, apparently posing as one of his supporters; he was wearing what appeared to be a paper or plastic crown, bearing the words \u201cI am Lee Jae-myung.\u201d Supporters and police officers overpowered the man after the stabbing and took him to a police car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man approached Mr. Lee, asking for his autograph in a loud voice,\u201d Son Je-han, a senior investigator with the Busan police, told reporters at a news briefing.<\/p>\n
Mr. Lee was narrowly defeated by Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a>, a conservative, in South Korea\u2019s last presidential election, in 2022. He has since been subjected to a series of investigations by state prosecutors on corruption and other criminal charges.<\/p>\n