Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that 67-year-old stabbing suspect, Mr. Kim, seen wearing a blue paper crown marked “I am Lee Jae-Myung”.
Yonhap news agency reported he was stabbed in the neck.
Emergency responders were seen carrying Mr Lee into an ambulance. He was later taken to hospital on a helicopter, according to Yonhap.
The agency said he was bleeding but conscious as he was transported from the scene.
Police in Busan said Mr Lee had suffered a “one-centimetre laceration on his neck”, according to South Korean news outlet Chosun Ilbo.
An official from the hospital said Mr Lee’s injury was not life threatening. Born into poverty in the city of Andong, Lee worked in a factory instead of attending middle school, but later qualified as a lawyer and became a civil rights attorney.
As head of the left-leaning Democratic Party, Lee lost to conservative Yoon Suk Yeol in a tight presidential race in 2022. Lee is widely expected to run for president again in 2027, and recent polls have indicated that he remains a strong contender.
Photographs released by Yonhap showed Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed and people around him pressing a handkerchief against the side of his neck.
Lee was taken to Pusan National university hospital, arriving approximately 20 minutes after the attack. Officials from his party said he was conscious while receiving treatment in hospital. He was later transported by helicopter to Seoul where he will undergo surgery.
An official from Pusan hospital said Lee’s injuries were not life threatening.
The attack took place during a question and answer session with reporters after a visit to the construction site of a new airport on Gadeok Island, just offshore from Busan.
Information reads: “The suspect of the stabbing is a currently unknown male who was wearing a crown marked “I am Lee Jae-Myung.”
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