Lee Jae-myung's stab in the neck and then "crossing" will help South Korea's key election?

Reporter | Anjing

As soon as 2024 begins, South Korean politics will usher in a bloody storm.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, was attacked while attending an event in Busan, and the 50 police officers present were unable to stop the attacker's 30-centimeter knife.

Lee Jae-myung, 59, has been transferred to Seoul National University Hospital for further treatment after emergency resuscitation and is currently not in life-threatening condition.

This is also another "robbery" after Lee Jae-myung was hospitalized for hunger strike and charged with corruption. On April 10, South Korea will hold parliamentary elections, which will also determine whether President Yoon Suk-yeol can break free from the shackles of the Democratic Party of Korea, the largest party in the National Assembly.

The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and Yoon Suk-yeol's National Power Party (NPP) are currently tied in the polls, and Lee Jae-myung's attack is likely to earn sympathy points for the DPK.

Lee Jae-myung was attacked

On the morning of January 2, Lee Jae-myung was interviewed by a press group after inspecting the site of the new airport in Gadeokdo in Busan. A man wearing a blue paper crown with the words "Support Lee Jae-myung" on his head, smiling, pushed the reporter away and walked towards Lee Jae-myung.

The man was also holding a sign in support of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) that read, "Parliament wins 200 seats." South Korea's parliament is unicameral and has a total of 300 seats.

Because the man appeared to be a fan of Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party of Korea, security personnel did not stop him from approaching. There were about 50 police officers at the scene, who were responsible for site security and traffic command. The man approached Lee Jae-myung and asked him for an autograph, then suddenly pulled out a long knife and stabbed Lee Jae-myung in the neck.

According to Yonhap News Agency, more than 20 minutes after the incident, Lee Jae-myung was taken by ambulance to Busan University Hospital, where he was tested and resuscitated in a conscious state. Lee Jae-myung had a laceration of about 1 centimeter on his neck, but it was not life-threatening.

After emergency rescue, Lee Jae-myung was transferred by helicopter to Seoul National University Hospital in the afternoon of the same day for further treatment. Democratic Party figures said Mr. Lee's jugular vein could be damaged and feared it could bleed further.

The attacker was arrested at the scene. South Korean media found that video recordings showed the man had appeared at another event in Busan last month, in which Lee Jae-myung also participated. At that time, the man was also wearing a blue paper crown that "supported Lee Jae-myung", but he could not get close to Lee Jae-myung.

According to the Chosun Times, the man, 67, a resident of Chungcheongnam-do, bought a long knife online last year to use in the attack. The man only revealed to the police that he wanted to kill Lee Jae-myung, but did not explain why.

Yoon Suk-yeol has urged relevant departments to quickly find out the truth of the incident and do their best to provide assistance for the transfer and rescue of Lee Jae-myung. He stressed that such acts of violence must not be tolerated in Korean society under any circumstances.

South Korea's prosecutor general, Lee Won-yan, asked the Busan District Prosecutor's Office to set up a special investigation team, and also asked local prosecutors to strengthen prevention of violence related to the April parliamentary election and crack down on political violence.

Attacks on politicians are not uncommon in South Korea. In 2022, Song Yong-gil, the former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was hit in the head with a hammer by an attacker during a street propaganda campaign and later underwent surgery.

In 2015, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was attacked while attending an event at the Cultural Center, where he was stabbed in multiple places with a fruit knife in the face and hands. In 2006, former President Park Geun-hye was stabbed in the face after being attacked with a utility knife by attackers.

Helping with a key election?

After Lee Jae-myung's attack, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Korea called the attack a "terrorist attack" that threatened democracy. On Wednesday, members of the Democratic Party of Parliament will hold an emergency session.

With voting just three months before the parliamentary election, Democratic Party whip Hong Yi-pyo urged members of the Democratic Party to remain calm and refrain from political interpretations of the attack.

Although Yoon Suk-yeol is the president of South Korea, the largest party in the National Assembly is not Yoon Suk-yeol's National Power Party, but the Democratic Party of Korea led by Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party of Japan currently holds 168 seats, while the National Power Party has only 111 seats. Due to opposing positions, many of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's proposals have been rejected by the National Assembly.

In terms of foreign policy, there is a clear difference between the National Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea. On the Korean issue, the Democratic Party of Korea advocates the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, while the People's Power Party advocates taking a hard line on North Korea.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPK) has taken a hardline stance toward Japan. Under Moon Jae-in, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, South Korea and Japan engaged in a trade war over Japan's refusal to compensate South Korean laborers for its colonial rule. After Yoon Suk-yeol came to power, the South Korean government took the initiative to make concessions to Japan on the workers' compensation case in order to strengthen relations with the United States, and the warming of relations between the South Korean and Japanese governments accelerated.

In terms of his attitude toward China, Lee Jae-myung said in the 2022 presidential election that South Korea should not take sides between China and the United States, while conservative members of the People's Power Party were more pro-American.

Yoon's approval rating has fallen to a record low of 32% due to inflation, the continued depreciation of the won, and foreign policy, making it more difficult for the NPP to defeat the DPK. A survey by Kstat Research, a South Korean polling agency, at the end of December last year, showed that the support of the People's Power Party was 33 percent, on par with the 33 percent of the Democratic Party of Korea.

More than 60 percent of voters believe that the April parliamentary election will be a voter's rating of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and the ruling People's Power Party. There are also voters who believe that choosing between Yoon Suk-yeol's party and Lee Jae-myung's party is choosing the "less evil" side.

Lee Jae-myung did not come from a political family, but went from a worker from a poor family to become one of the top figures in South Korean politics. His commitment to social welfare has earned him a reputation. When he was the mayor of Seongnam, Lee Jae-myung won re-election in the mayoral election.

When he was governor of Gyeonggi Province, Lee Jae-myung was also praised for his heavy blows to the Shincheonji Church during the pandemic. In the girlfriend-gate affair against former President Park Geun-hye, Lee Jae-myung was also a leading figure in supporting Park Geun-hye's impeachment.

In 2022, Lee Jae-myung ran for the presidency and proposed a universal basic income (UBI), which aims to set a basic income threshold for young people, farmers, and fishermen, and then extend it to other citizens. In that year's general election, Lee Jae-myung lost to Yoon Suk-yeol by only 0.8% of the vote.

But a series of corruption cases have also damaged Mr. Lee's reputation. Lee Jae-myung has been accused of corruption while serving as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi Province, and his family has also been accused of using public power for personal purposes. After the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office demanded the arrest of Lee Jae-myung, Lee Jae-myung began a hunger strike.

Although Lee's hunger strike was based on opposition to the Yoon Suk-yeol cabinet and dissatisfaction with the South Korean government's compromise with Japan on the issue of discharging nuclear sewage into the sea, his hunger strike has also been accused of avoiding trial. In the end, Lee Jae-myung fainted due to a hunger strike and was sent to the hospital for treatment. In an effort to salvage the reputation of the Democratic Party of Korea, the National Assembly approved prosecutors' request for Lee Jae-myung's arrest in connection with the corruption case.

In October last year, Lee Jae-myung, who had ended his hunger strike and was preparing for an investigation, returned to party affairs, but the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) was also divided by Lee Jae-myung. Shortly before Lee Jae-myung's attack, Lee Nak-yeon, the former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, demanded that Lee resign as party leader or form a new party.

The attack on Lee Jae-myung against such a political backdrop will undoubtedly earn him sympathy points. If the final investigation reveals that the attack was politically motivated, Lee Jae-myung will continue to lead the DPK, regardless of whether the attackers were supporters of other factions of the Democratic Party of Korea or supporters of Yoon Suk-yeol.

Park Geun-hye was the beneficiary of the attacks. In 2006, after Ms. Park was stabbed in the face by an assailant, her Grand National Party won local elections.