South Korea's opposition leader stabbed in the neck

The leader of South Korea's opposition party, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday by an assailant in the city of Busan, police said. 

The incident occurred as Lee, 59,  was fielding questions from journalists while touring the site of a new airport planned for Busan. Footage from the incident shows the unidentified attacker approaching Lee and asking for his autograph before lashing out with a knife. Lee was seen bleeding from the neck before being taken away in an ambulance. The suspect, a man in his 60s, was arrested at the scene of the stabbing, police said.

Lee, the leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, was flown to Seoul where he underwent surgery. Democratic Party spokesperson Kwon Chil-seung said the attack left Lee with a 1-centimeter laceration on the side of his neck that nicked his jugular vein. He is currently recovering in intensive care, Kwon added. 

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Doctors felt it was "fortunate" that Lee was stabbed in the jugular and not the carotid artery, which likely would have caused significantly more damage, senior Democratic Party member Chung Cheong-rae said in a statement. Chung called the stabbing "political terrorism" that was "a serious threat and challenge to democracy."

The attack is a rare display of violence against the man who nearly became South Korea's president. The liberal Lee narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative People Power Party, losing the popular vote by less than 300,000. Following his loss, Lee was elected to South Korea's legislature and became the head of the Democratic Party. 

Lee is "widely expected to run for president again" in 2027, The New York Times noted. In a statement, President Yoon said he had "deep concern" for Lee after the attack and that violence "should not be tolerated under any circumstances."