South Korea is shocked by the stabbing of opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung during a press conference in the city of Busan on Tuesday.

The video shows the moment when the attacker, aged around 50 to 60 years, walks through the crowd wearing a paper crown of Lee himself and asks for his autograph. He suddenly rushes at Lee and stabs him in the left side of the neck.

@channelnewsasia South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck by an unidentified man during a visit to Busan on Tuesday (Jan 2). The attacker was arrested at the scene and Lee was taken conscious to a local hospital. #news #southkoreanews ♬ original sound – CNA

The leader of the opposition party appears to be collapsing, while several people try to catch the perpetrator who was immediately arrested.

Photos show Lee lying on the ground with his eyes closed while someone presses a handkerchief around his neck to stop the bleeding.

He was then taken to the hospital conscious.

Lee, a human rights lawyer, entered politics in 2005 and in 2010 became mayor of Seongnam, the country’s 10th largest city. The 59-year-old politician currently heads the Democratic Party of Korea, is not currently a member of South Korea’s legislature, but is expected to run for a seat in the next general election, which will be held in April 2024. In 2022 in the presidential election he lost with a difference of 0.73% of the votes from the current president Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee’s reputation has been marred by various scandals. He has been accused—among other things—of buying and selling property that was characterized as of dubious legality. Poisonous rumors led him to have relations with people of the underworld, while his wife was accused of illegally wasting public money.

In September 2023, Mr. Li avoided arrest at the last minute after a court rejected a request by the prosecution to be remanded in custody ahead of his arraignment on corruption charges.

He is accused in particular of a case of illegally transferring an amount of 8 million dollars to North Korea from a private company of his country, and that he was responsible for a 15 million dollar loss caused to Sonam’s municipal enterprise during the period when he was its mayor.