Seeing that it has entered 2024, South Korea does not seem to be at peace, and the arrival of an unexpected event has pushed South Korea to the forefront for a while. According to a number of media reports, on the morning of January 2, local time, Lee Jae-myung, the largest leader of the South Korean opposition party, was attacked while attending an event in Busan, South Korea.
Judging from some details disclosed by the media, Lee Jae-myung was being interviewed at the time, and then was about to leave in a car, when a man wearing a suspected birthday crown approached him and asked him for an autograph, and then suddenly took advantage of his unpreparedness and took out a long knife of about 30cm and stabbed Lee Jae-myung in the neck, and for a while the scene screamed and became chaotic. It is worth mentioning that although the murder weapon used by the perpetrator is quite horrific, the latest report from the South Korean media "Chosun Ilbo" said that the South Korean police revealed that Lee Jae-myung only had a 1 cm wound on his neck, which was inferred to be a minor injury. Lee Jae-myung has now been transferred by helicopter to Seoul National University Hospital for surgery. Busan Hospital said Lee Jae-myung's injuries were not life-threatening.
After the incident, Kim so-kyung, spokesman for the South Korean Presidential Office, also said to the public at the first time that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was deeply concerned about Lee Jae-myung's safety and believed that the attack should never happen. In addition, Kim so-kyung also stressed that Yoon Seok-yong instructed the police and other relevant departments to quickly find out the truth and do everything possible to support Lee Jae-myung's treatment.
Although the motive and identity of the perpetrator are not yet clear, we can actually see many unusual signals through this incident. For our domestic audience, the reason why we are familiar with Lee Jae-myung is because he is one of the few South Korean politicians with the color of "friendship with China". Looking at his personal resume, it is not difficult to see where there is a conflict between his and Yoon Suk-yeol's claims. Lee Jae-myung, who entered South Korean politics around 2007. He has openly opposed the US deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, believing that this will harm South Korea's economic interests, and he supports the establishment of a strategic cooperative partnership with China to strengthen economic, trade, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges. And in the recent past. Because of Japan's practice of discharging nuclear sewage into the sea to express hunger strike, it has also caused quite a stir and repercussions in South Korean political circles. This makes people see in Lee Jae-myung the national integrity that Yoon Suk-yeol never has. Relatively speaking, since Yoon Suk-yeol took office, he has pursued a "pro-American and flattering Japan" diplomatic line, that is, whatever the United States and Japan seek, Yoon Suk-yeol has tried his best to follow, including targeting China. Whether it is in the field of semiconductors or important affairs, Yoon Suk-yeol is handling relations with China in a posture of echoing the United States and Japan. As a result, South Korea's economy suffered a major loss. Yonhap News Agency reported on January 1 that data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the same day showed that South Korea's exports in 2023 will decrease by 7.4% year-on-year to US$632.69 billion, showing negative growth again after three years. Among them, South Korea's trade deficit with China is the first in 31 years, which has a great impact. The knock-on effect of this has also caused the approval rating of the Yoon Suk-yeol cabinet to continue to fall. By contrast, Lee Jae-myung, who represents the power of South Korea's nationalism, is becoming a strong contender for the presidency with a visible voice. Although we do not know whether the attack on the Lee Jae-myung incident will have some kind of inexplicable connection with the political struggle in South Korea, it is difficult for people not to think about it with the experience of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and others.
On the one hand, the DPRK's high-level announced not long ago that the DPRK-ROK relations are "no longer homogeneous" but completely hostile. And the South Korean side is also very tough, Yoon Suk-yeol New Year's order to the frontline troops, saying that if there is an attack, the South Korean troops must retaliate before reporting. It is like an opposing posture that allows the army to "cut first and play later". In such a tense atmosphere, we can only wait and see whether the direction of South Korea will have a domino effect in the attack on Lee Jae-myung.