Key Points
- Lee was attacked by an unidentified man while touring the site of a proposed airport.
- Surgeons operated on Lee for more than two hours to repair a major blood vessel in his neck.
- He was conscious and recovering after the surgery, party officials said.
South Korea's opposition Democratic Party leader, Lee Jae-myung, remains hospitalised in intensive care a day after he was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southern city of Busan on Tuesday.
Lee was airlifted to Seoul where he received surgery.
Surgeons operated on Lee for more than two hours to repair a major blood vessel in his neck that was sliced in the attack.
He was conscious and recovering in intensive care, party officials said.
Lee was airlifted to Seoul where he received surgery. Source: AAP / Yonhap/AP
The man - who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s and wearing a paper crown with Lee's name on it - approached and asked for an autograph as Lee spoke among a throng of supporters and reporters, then lunged forward and attacked him, video footage showed.
Television footage and a video clip on the social media platform X showed the man lunging with his arm stretched out and stabbing Lee in the neck, the force of the attack pushing Lee back into the crowd behind him.
Lee grimaced and collapsed to the ground. News photographs showed Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed and bleeding, and people pressing a handkerchief against his neck.
Jin Jeong-hwa, a Lee supporter who was at the scene livestreaming the event, told Reuters there were two dozen police officers present.
The assailant was quickly subdued by men including police officers, the footage showed.
He was refusing to answer police questions about his motives, newspaper Busan Ilbo reported.
"The act of terror against Chairman Lee Jae-myung was clearly a challenge against democracy and a threat against democracy," Democratic Party floor leader Hong Ik-pyo said at a party leadership council meeting.
He urged a speedy investigation and better security for high-profile political figures, echoing renewed questions about the safety on campaign trails in a country with a history of political violence despite tight restrictions on gun ownership.
Lee, a tough-talking progressive who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election, had been rallying the party to retain the parliamentary majority it holds against President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservatives.
A former governor of Gyeonggi province, Lee has led the main opposition party since August 2022.
Lee is currently on trial for alleged bribery stemming from a development project when he was mayor of Seongnam near Seoul. He has denied any wrongdoing.
South Korea holds a pivotal election on 10 April where conservatives will try to win back a majority for the first time since 2016 and help President Yoon Suk Yeol's pro-business policies, including tax cuts, deregulation and social reforms.
Yoon again condemned the attack as "terror" and said: "It is an enemy of liberal democracy," according to his office.
The seat for Lee remains vacant during a meeting of the party's Supreme Council at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. Source: AAP / Yonhap/EPA
Then , who later served as president, was stabbed at an event in 2006 and suffered a gash on her face that required surgery.
Her father, Park Chung-hee, who was president for 16 years after taking power in a military coup, was shot and killed by his disgruntled spy chief in 1979 at a drunken private dinner.
In 2015, then US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was attacked by an assailant while attending a public event, suffering a large gash on his face.
