Lee was at the construction site of the new Gadeokdo airport when he was shot in the left side of the neck while speaking to a crowd of journalists, the official said.
A Democratic Party official told Reuters that Lee was conscious and taken to a local teaching hospital.
Lee was attacked by an unknown man while visiting the site of the proposed airport. As a result of the attack, he received a wound about 1 cm wide on his neck, YTN television reported.
The attacker appeared to be a man in his 50s or 60s wearing a paper crown with Lee’s name on it, news photos showed.
He approached Lee for an autograph, then suddenly stepped forward and attacked him, the news reported. The attacker was immediately blocked and arrested on the spot.
In video clips from television channel YTN and another video posted on social media platform X, an attack was seen in which a man lunges at Lee with his hand outstretched and Lee falls.
President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned the attack, calling it an unacceptable act, his office said. He expressed deep concern for Lee and ordered that he be given the best treatment so that he could recover quickly.
Lee, a former governor of Gyeonggi Province, narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to conservative Yoon, a former attorney general.
Lee is currently on trial for allegedly paying bribes in connection with a development project when he was mayor of Seongnam, near Seoul. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, calling the charges trumped up and a political conspiracy.
Lee has led the main opposition party since August 2022. South Korea’s next parliamentary elections will be held in April.
Lee’s predecessor, Song Young-gil, was attacked on the head with an unknown object during a public event in 2022, causing injuries.
Park Geun-hye, then the leader of the opposition Conservative Party and later president, was attacked with a knife at an event in 2006 and suffered facial lacerations that required surgery.
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2024-01-02 03:38:59
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