Text: Guan Junran, Zhang Donghui
Editor/Qi Fei
◆On the morning of January 2, after Lee Jae-myung was attacked, he suffered a neck injury and fell to the ground bleeding.
Just the day after the New Year, shocking news came out of South Korea.
At around 10:27 local time on January 2, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, was attacked by an unidentified man while attending an event in Busan, South Korea, and was stabbed on the left side of his neck. He was conscious after he fell to the ground, and the wound on his neck was about 1 centimeter, which was presumed to be a minor injury due to the small amount of bleeding.
Lee Jae-myung was transferred to Seoul National University Hospital for emergency treatment due to damage to the internal jugular vein, fearing further hemorrhage, and was transferred to Seoul National University Hospital for revascularization surgery, including thrombus removal, and is recovering in the intensive care unit as of press time.
◆ Lee Jae-myung was transferred to Seoul National University Hospital.
"There are generally two possibilities for attacks on South Korean politicians: one is a political murder and the other is a completely isolated case. If no new political friction emerges, it can be considered an isolated incident for the time being. Lu Chao, dean of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, told Phoenix Weekly.
The timing of Lee's attack was delicate. From January 1, 2024, the countdown to the election of members of the 22nd National Assembly of South Korea will enter 100 days. This is the most important political agenda item in South Korea in the first half of this year, and it is both a midterm test for the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which is in its third year in power, and an assessment of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which has a majority in the National Assembly.
Lu Chao bluntly said that during this critical period, the struggle between the ruling and opposition parties has become increasingly intense, and both have done their best to fight hard. "At the moment, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating continues to decline, and if Lee Jae-myung's life is in danger, Yoon Suk-yeol will have one less strong competitor. If Lee Jae-myung escapes this fate, he may win the sympathy of the people. In any case, the attack on Lee Jae-myung will have a great shock to South Korean society. ”
The suspect had tried to approach him more than half a month earlier
On the morning of the same day, Lee Jae-myung went to inspect the construction site of the new airport in Busan. As he finished answering reporters' questions and was about to leave in the car, a man wearing a blue crown-shaped birthday hat with Lee Jae-myung's name on it approached him posing as a supporter, shouting "Please sign your name, please sign your name."
Lee Jae-myung showed a shallow smile, and the moment he took the paper, the man suddenly raised his right hand and stabbed a knife about 18 centimeters long into Lee Jae-myung's throat. Lee Jae-myung fell to the ground on the spot, his shirt stained red with blood, and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
◆ The moment Lee Jae-myung was attacked.
An eyewitness at the scene recalled: "At that time, Representative Lee Jae-myung was surrounded by cameras and reporters, and he stood with his head bowed slightly while listening to the reporters' questions. At this time, a man shouted for an autograph and broke through the crowd to the front of Lee Jae-myung. Everyone thought he was an ardent supporter of Lee Jae-myung, but he suddenly stabbed Lee Jae-myung with a knife. ”
◆ The suspect broke through the crowd and came directly in front of Lee Jae-myung.
The sudden terrorist attack caused chaos at the scene, and plainclothes people surrounding Lee Jae-myung immediately subdued the suspect. "He had no anomalous behavior at all before committing the crime, he looked like an avid fan, and he didn't yell or other anomalous behavior after he was arrested. Another witness said.
◆The suspect was arrested by the South Korean police.
The police confirmed that the man who attacked Lee Jae-myung with the murder weapon was a man surnamed Kim born in 1957, who lives in Chungcheongnam-do, and bought an 18-centimeter-long knife used in the attack online in 2023, with no previous criminal record. He confessed to the police: "I want to kill Lee Jae-myung. As a result, the police applied the suspicion of "attempted homicide" to him. The police said they were investigating the suspect's specific crimes and confirming his political party affiliation.
When the photos and videos of the scene of the murder were exposed, some netizens discovered that the suspect had appeared at another event of Lee Jae-myung in Busan on December 13, 2023. At that time, he wore an identical blue crown paper hat and managed to get close to the car in which Lee Jae-myung was riding, but was eventually stopped by others without directly touching Lee Jae-myung. As a result, some speculated: "The suspect seems to have succeeded in committing the crime after several attempts, and the Democratic Party needs to strengthen its security." ”
◆The suspect was also present at the scene during Lee Jae-myung's trip to Busan on December 13.
The ambulance was 21 kilometres from the scene of the attack and it took 23 minutes to reach the scene. During this time, Lee Jae-myung had to lie on the ground, using tissues and handkerchiefs to stop the bleeding and wait for an ambulance. Some doctors said that if the suspect's blade was a little more off, it could be fatal if it stabbed the carotid artery instead of the jugular vein.
It is worth mentioning that during Lee Jae-myung's inspection, the Busan Jiangxi Police Station arranged more than 50 people to provide security protection. However, the suspect was mistaken for a supporter by the police and was not identified as a dangerous person. In addition, the police officers deployed that day were not specially designed to provide personal protection for Lee Jae-myung, but were mainly responsible for traffic management, personnel management, and other work to maintain order.
In South Korea, it is only during the official election period that the South Korean police will activate a special protection team of experienced police officers to provide close protection for the candidates. In response, Yoon Hee-geun, director of the National Police Agency, said: "The police will strengthen the personal security of key personnel to prevent similar cases from happening again." ”
"Political activities require close contact with citizens. If a supporter asks for an autograph, he can't refuse to give it, so there is always a danger of this. Kim Man-chin, a visiting professor at Seoul University in South Korea, said bluntly, "We should take this as an opportunity to increase vigilance and strengthen security." But extremists can be at any time, so it's still a concern. ”
The day before the attack, the slogan "Election Victory" was shouted
In recent times, Lee Jae-ming has been under a lot of pressure.
On January 2, Lee Jae-myung had planned to visit former South Korean President Moon Jae-in at noon in Pyongsan Village, Yangsan City, Gyeongsangnam-do, after inspecting the new Busan Airport in the morning, and have lunch with him. In his meeting with Moon Jae-in, he not only conveyed New Year's greetings, but also intended to seek his opinion on the issue of splitting the party, such as Lee Nak-yeon, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on his proposal to leave the party and form a new party.
◆On the afternoon of May 10, 2023, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, posed for a photo with former President Moon Jae-in after buying books at the Pyongsan Bookstore in Hae-myeon, Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.
Lee has expressed his dissatisfaction with Lee Jae-myung several times recently, and announced in December 2023 that he would form a new party after leaving the party in early 2024. According to him, he will work with "third parties" other than the Democratic Party of Korea and the ruling People's Power Party to make the new party the largest party in the new Diet.
◆李在明（左）和李洛渊（右）
After Lee Jae-myung's attack, the top brass of the Democratic Party of Korea spoke with Moon Jae-in on the phone. Mr. Lee, they said, had to cancel the visit. Moon Jae-in fully understands this. It is reported that Moon Jae-in originally planned to visit Lee Jae-myung at Busan National University Hospital immediately, but he did not give up after learning that the latter would need to go to Seoul for surgery. Moon Jae-in also exhorted: "For the sake of Representative Lee's recovery as soon as possible, please go all out." ”
On the eve of New Year's Day, Lee Jae-myung paid special respects to the graves of former President Kim Dae-jung at the National Hyeon-chung Hospital in Seoul's Bronze Jak-dong and former President Roh Moo-hyun at Bongha-hun, Gyeongsangnam-do, and met with Roh Moo-hyun's wife, Jeon Yang-sook. This move was interpreted as a sign that in order to prevent further internal unrest within the party, the unity of the "Lee Jae-myung leadership" needed to be highlighted in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.
On January 1, 2024, Lee Jae-myung delivered an extremely harshly worded New Year's message. "The Yoon Suk-yeol regime has undermined democracy and negated democracy, and the Republic of Korea is in decline because of its national government, and people's livelihood, economy, peace, and democracy are on the verge of collapse. He took the opportunity to shout a new slogan, "I will definitely win [in the congressional elections] and make today's despair tomorrow's hope." ”
According to a poll released by Gallup, a South Korean polling agency, on January 1, 24 percent of respondents chose Han Dong-hoon, the current minister of justice, and 22 percent chose Lee Jae-myung, when answering the question "Who will be the future president of our country?" This is the first time that Han Dong-hoon has led Lee Jae-myung in this poll.
◆On December 29, 2023, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the Emergency Response Committee of the People Power Party, entered the office of the Democratic Party representative.
This is not the first time Lee Jae-myung has faced an existential threat. In 2023, he went on a hunger strike for 24 days and escaped the arrest crisis and survived.
Beginning on August 31, 2023, Lee Jae-myung went on a hunger strike in a tent erected in front of the National Assembly Building against Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, calling on Yoon Suk-yeol to apologize for "undermining people's livelihood and democracy" and demanding a complete cabinet reshuffle. He also shouted: "We will fight against incompetence and tyranny with the mentality of putting death to the ground of death, with the last resort of an indefinite hunger strike." On the 19th day of his hunger strike, Lee Jae-myung was nearly unconscious due to a sudden drop in blood sugar and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
◆On August 31, 2023, Lee Jae-myung announced an indefinite hunger strike and sit-in to protest President Yoon Suk-yeol's "tyranny".
But on the same day that Lee was admitted to the hospital, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office asked the court to arrest him on charges of dereliction of duty and accepting bribes.
There are three main cases in which Lee Jae-myung is involved. South Korean prosecutors believe that from 2014 to 2015, Lee Jae-myung was suspected of providing preferential treatment to private enterprises in the process of real estate development when he was the mayor of Seongnam, causing a loss of 20 billion won (about 110 million yuan) to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (a state-owned enterprise).
He is also suspected of soliciting a bribe of US$8 million from Kim Sung-tae, chairman of the Choppon Group, through the former vice governor for peace affairs of Gyeonggi Province from 2019 to 2020, on the pretext of paying for his visit to the DPRK. In addition, Lee Jae-ming is also suspected of instigating others to give false testimony in his favor when he was tried in February 2019 for violating the Public Office Election Act.
On September 23, 2023, Lee Jae-myung stopped his hunger strike for 24 days under the "strong recommendation" of the hospital and went to recovery treatment. On September 26, Lee arrived at the Seoul Central District Court to be examined for the necessity of his arrest. In the early morning of the 27th, the Seoul Central District Court of South Korea decided to reject the prosecution's application for the arrest of Lee Jae-myung. Lee Jae-myung escaped.
◆On September 27, 2023, a South Korean court decided not to approve the arrest of Lee Jae-myung, and Lee Jae-myung made a speech as he walked out of the detention center.
Under internal and external troubles, Lee Jae-ming was able to breathe?
South Korea's government and opposition unanimously condemned the political terrorism in the Lee Jae-myung attack.
President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed the police and relevant departments to quickly investigate the situation, find out the truth, and do their best to support Lee Jae-myung's treatment. "Our society should not tolerate such violence under any circumstances," Yoon stressed. South Korean Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said, "This should never happen, and I sincerely hope that Rep. Lee will recover soon." ”
Lee Jun-seok, the former head of the ruling National Power Party, which is preparing to create a new party, expressed concern about Lee Jae-myung's attack on social media, writing, "I hope to be safe and recover soon." Li Luoyuan, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, bluntly said: "Violence is the enemy of democracy...... It can never be tolerated. ”
South Korea's Attorney General Lee Won-gang instructed the Busan District Prosecutor's Office to set up a special investigation team to work closely with the police to handle the case promptly and seriously deal with those involved. Li Yuanyan pointed out that procuratorial offices across the country should strengthen their efforts to prevent the occurrence of violent acts related to the election of members of the 22nd National Assembly and crack down on political violence.
On the second day of the New Year, the attack on Lee Jae-myung was confusing, which made the South Korean people panic for a while. Many netizens said: "How much barbaric time does the Republic of Korea have to spend? At no time should we use murder weapons or violence to express our will." ”
Daegu Metropolitan City Mayor Hong Joon-pyo was even more blunt: "When the parliamentary elections are approaching, this kind of thing happened at the beginning of the camp showdown, which seems to be a signal flare for the country's future to be bleak." This is the tragedy of the politics of hatred, the politics of monopoly, and the extreme faction duel, and it is time to stop the politics of 'gladiators' that hate and kill each other. ”
Even if we don't count the famous assassinations in recent history, since the beginning of the 21st century, there have been repeated street attacks on South Korean politicians.
On May 20, 2006, Park Geun-hye, then the representative of South Korea's largest opposition party, the Grand National Party, was slashed in the face by an unknown person. When Ms. Park was preaching in a university constituency northwest of Seoul, a man stepped forward as if to shake her hand, but suddenly pulled out an art knife and brutally cut the right side of Ms. Park's face. The wound was 11 centimeters long from the bottom of the ear to the chin. After the incident, Park Geun-hye was rushed to the hospital for treatment and received 60 stitches, leaving her unable to speak normally for weeks.
In 2015, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was attacked by a South Korean man while attending an event in Seoul, resulting in multiple stab wounds to his face, wrists, arms, and blood. Among them, he underwent surgery on his face and required 80 stitches. The attackers were arrested chanting anti-war slogans and claiming that the attack was in protest against joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises.
During South Korea's 2022 presidential election, Song Yong-gil, then leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was attacked with a blunt object at a campaign rally in Seoul. A man wearing a black hat, a long shirt and trousers, and a backpack suddenly rushed to his side, raised a hammer wrapped in a black bag, and struck Song Yongji on the head three or four times.
South Korea's "Gyeonghyang Shimbun" commented: "Does the increasingly polarized South Korean politics feed such political terrorist attacks?" The level of verbal violence in cyberspace has long since exceeded dangerous levels. With parliamentary elections just around the corner, if the antagonism between the camps intensifies, the violence could once again lead to some form of terrorist attack. ”
An official from the ruling People's Power Party commented, "Since the plot behind the attack has not yet been clarified, this accidental accident will not have a direct impact on the Diet election." For Lee Jae-myung, who is facing internal and external crises due to intra-party disputes and judicial risks, this will be a respite for him. ”
In October 2021, Lee Jae-myung became the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) at the time, but ultimately lost to Yoon Suk-yeol by less than 1%. But this time, compared to the victim Lee Jae-myung, the attack may have annoyed Yoon Suk-yeol even more.
According to the latest Gallup poll released on December 12-14, 2023, President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating fell to 31%, and his disapproval rating rose to 62%. The main reason for this phenomenon is that his performance in the economy, people's livelihood and curbing price increases is not widely recognized.
"South Korean voters who don't care about politics and are in a state of flux could be affected by the attacks. Lu Chao analyzed, "During the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, although the US-South Korea alliance was strengthened and the historic reconciliation between Japan and South Korea was promoted, it did not bring benefits to the South Korean people. In addition, tensions and anxieties have also increased tension and anxiety in South Korean society, with North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un just declaring that inter-Korean relations are "no longer homogeneous" but completely hostile. ”
"In an atmosphere of social intension, attacks on key political figures will have a negative impact on both Yoon Suk-yeol's administration and the stability of South Korean society. Lu Chao said.