South Korean Opposition Leader Stabbed

       Details of the Attack Who Is Lee Jae-myung? A Shocked and Polarized Nation

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       Knife Attack on Opposition Leader Raises Alarms in Polarized South Korea

       The attack on Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential vote, came amid a deepening political divide and increasingly extreme discourse in South Korea.

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       Man Stabs South Korean Politician

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       Lee Jae-myung, South Korea’s opposition party leader, was attacked by a man wearing a blue paper crown. In footage from Korean media, the attacker’s image has been blurred. CreditCredit...@barunsori/YouTube via Reuters

       By Choe Sang-Hun and John Yoon

       Reporting from Seoul and Asan, South Korea

       Jan. 3, 2024

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       The man accused of stabbing Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea’s main opposition party, in the neck had been stalking him in recent weeks, including attending a political event where Mr. Lee was present on Dec. 13, apparently captured on video there wearing a blue paper crown, the police say.

       At a rally on Tuesday, a man wearing a similar paper crown and carrying a message supporting Mr. Lee and his party was also carrying something else: a knife with a five-inch blade and a plastic handle wrapped with duct tape.

       The attack, the worst against a South Korean politician in nearly two decades, seriously wounded Mr. Lee, who officials said was recovering in an intensive care unit at Seoul National University on Wednesday after surgery. And it deeply shocked a country that values hard-won years of relative peace after an era of political and military violence before establishing democracy in the 1990s.

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       Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

       John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news. More about John Yoon

       A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 4, 2024, Section A , Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Stabbing of South Korea Opposition Leader Raises Alarms in Divided Country . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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