SEOUL: South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election, is conscious and has been transported to a local university hospital, a party official and a fire department official told Reuters.
Lee was attacked by an unidentified man while touring the site of a proposed airport, Yonhap said. The attack has left him with a gash of about 1 cm on his neck, YTN television reported.
The assailant appeared to be a man in his 50s or 60s, who wore a paper crown with Lee’s name on it, news photographs showed.
He approached Lee asking for an autograph, then suddenly lunged forward and attacked him, news reports said. The assailant was quickly subdued and arrested at the scene, Yonhap said.
Video clips on YTN television and another posted on the social media platform X showed the attack, with a man lunging at Lee with his arm stretched out. Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground.
News photographs showed Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed and other people pressing a handkerchief against the side of his neck.
President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned the attack, saying it was an unacceptable act, his office said. He expressed deep concern for Lee and instructed best care be given so he can make a speedy recovery, his office said.
A former governor of Gyeonggi province, Lee narrowly lost to conservative Yoon, a former chief prosecutor, in the 2022 presidential election.
Lee is currently on trial for alleged bribery stemming from a development project when he was mayor of Seongnam near Seoul. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations “fiction” and a “political conspiracy.”
Lee has led the main opposition party since August 2022.
South Korea’s next parliamentary elections are slated for April.
Although there are strict restrictions on gun possession, South Korea has a history of political violence involving other weapons.
Lee’s predecessor, Song Young-gil was attacked in 2022 at a public event by an assailant who swung a blunt object against his head, causing a laceration.
Then conservative opposition party leader Park Geun-hye, who later served as president, was attacked at an event in 2006 with a knife and suffered a gash on her faced that required surgery.
South Korea opposition chief stabbed in neck — media
https://arab.news/vb4cn
South Korea opposition chief stabbed in neck — media
Trump seeks to strike back in crucial State of the Union
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will try to sell voters on the record of his first year back in power during his State of the Union address Tuesday, despite suffering a series of stinging blows ahead of November’s crucial midterm elections.
After a year of breakneck activity that has stunned America and the world, the 79-year-old Republican’s flagship speech to Congress — which he has largely sidelined — comes at a tense time.
Trump is fuming over a string of recent setbacks, including dismal approval ratings and the Supreme Court striking down his signature tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic agenda.
Adding to the drama, Trump will be speaking right in front of the same justices — including two of his own appointees — whom he branded “fools” over the stunning ruling.
If Democrats win back either the House or Senate in November, it could paralyze the rest of Trump’s second term — and put him at the risk of a possible third impeachment.
But Trump shows no signs of backing down in a speech that is likely to mix a defense of his first year with a launching pad for the midterms.
“It’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.
The president also dismissed “fake” polls including a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll published on Sunday showing his approval rating at just 39 percent.
Democrat protests
Democrats are lining up responses including boycotts and silent protests for the address — mandated by the US Constitution which says that the president shall “from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.”
Tina Smith, a Democratic senator from Minnesota, said she would skip it because Trump uses his speeches to “spread lies — not to mention they’re long and boring.”
The speech comes after a year in which Trump has asserted unprecedented executive power, targeted opponents and slapped his name on buildings at home, while upending the world order abroad.
Trump will be keen to tout what his administration says is its success on immigration, especially on cutting crossings over the Mexican border.
But polls show that while voters like his overall stance on immigration, they don’t like the harsh deportation raids in which two US citizens were shot dead in January.
On the economy, he will be selling what he claims is success in cutting inflation and restoring what he calls a “Golden Age” of America.
But billionaire Trump also faces a challenge to convince voters who are still worried about the cost of living — which many blame on the tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down.
Iran tensions
The world will meanwhile be watching for hints from Trump about possible military action against Iran, with a huge US military build-up pressing Tehran to make a nuclear deal.
The key speech has been used to advance foreign policy before — former president George W. Bush fashioned his 2003 State of the Union speech, for instance, to make the case for war with Iraq.
Adding to the interest will be the guests that both Republicans and Democrats bring to watch the address from the gallery, part of a long tradition.
