Attack on Opposition Leader Raises Alarms in Divided South Korea

The individual accused of stabbing Lee Jae-myung, the chief of South Korea’s major opposition get collectively, throughout the neck had been stalking him in present weeks, along with attending a political event the place Mr. Lee was present on Dec. 13, apparently captured on video there carrying a blue paper crown, the police say.

At a rally on Tuesday, an individual carrying the identical paper crown and carrying a message supporting Mr. Lee and his get collectively was moreover carrying one factor else: a knife with a five-inch blade and a plastic cope with wrapped with duct tape.

The assault, the worst in opposition to a South Korean politician in virtually 20 years, critically wounded Mr. Lee, who officers talked about was recovering in an intensive care unit at Seoul Nationwide Faculty on Wednesday after surgical process. And it deeply shocked a country that values hard-won years of relative peace after an interval of political and navy violence sooner than establishing democracy throughout the Nineties.

The police talked about that the suspect, a 66-year-old precise property agent named Kim Jin-seong, had admitted an intent to kill Mr. Lee. Armed with a court-issued warrant, the police confiscated Mr. Kim’s mobile phone and raided his residence and office in Asan, south of Seoul, on Wednesday, as they tried to piece collectively what may want motivated that assault.

With particulars nonetheless scarce, public debate and knowledge editorials had been expressing a rising concern about South Korea’s deepening political polarization and the hatred and extremism it has appeared to encourage, along with the challenges it posed to the nation’s youthful democracy.

“The opposition chief falls under a knife of ‘politics of hatred,’” be taught a headline from the Chosun Ilbo, the nation’s most important conservative every day.

Officers talked about that little was acknowledged about Mr. Kim’s personal life or political and totally different background in addition to that he was a former authorities official who had been working an precise property firm in Asan since 2012. Police found no earlier knowledge of crime, drug use or psychiatric trouble, and talked about he was sober on the time of the assault on Mr. Lee. His neighbors talked about that they’d little interaction with him.

One neighbor remembered him as a kind and hard-working “gentleman” who saved his office open day-to-day, even on weekends, nevertheless who didn’t converse with him about politics and lived alone in an residence.

“He’s not any person who’d do such an element,” talked about Park Min-joon, who runs a developing administration agency. “I couldn’t think about it.”

The deep and bitter rivalry between Mr. Lee and President Yoon Suk Yeol has been center stage in South Korea’s political polarization since 2022, when Mr. Lee misplaced to Mr. Yoon with the thinnest margin of any free presidential election in South Korea. As a substitute of retiring from politics, as some presidential candidates have after defeats, Mr. Lee ran for — and gained — a parliamentary seat, along with chairmanship of the opposition Democratic Get collectively.

Beneath Mr. Yoon, state prosecutors have launched a group of investigations in opposition to Mr. Lee and tried to arrest him on different corruption and totally different authorized charges. Mr. Yoon has moreover refused to grant Mr. Lee one-on-one conferences that South Korean presidents had often supplied opposition leaders to hunt political compromises. As a substitute, he has repeatedly characterised his political opponents as “anti-state forces” or “corrupt cartels.”

For his half, Mr. Lee accused Mr. Yoon of deploying state law-enforcement forces to intimidate his enemies. His get collectively has refused to endorse plenty of Mr. Yoon’s appointees to the Cabinet and the Supreme Courtroom docket. Political commentators likened the connection between Mr. Yoon and Mr. Lee to “gladiators’ politics.”

“The two have been on a collision course for two years,” talked about Park Sung-min, head of MIN Consulting, a political consultancy. “President Yoon has been accused of not recognizing Lee Jae-myung as an opposition chief nevertheless considerably as a authorized suspect. I don’t assume his perspective will likely change following the knife assault in opposition to Lee.”

The ultimate most important assault on a house political chief occurred in 2006, when Park Geun-hye, then an opposition chief, was slashed throughout the face with a area cutter. Nonetheless the assault was seen largely as an isolated outburst of anger by an ex-convict who complained of mistreatment by the regulation enforcement system. (Ms. Park went on to win the 2012 presidential election.)

Nonetheless currently, politicians have been increasingly uncovered to hatred throughout the public sphere, as political polarization deepened. In a survey sponsored by the newspaper Hankyoreh in December, better than 50 p.c of respondents talked about they felt the political divide worsening. In a single different survey in December, commissioned by the Chosun Ilbo, 4 out of every 10 respondents talked about they found it uncomfortable to share meals or drinks with people who didn’t share their political opinions.

South Koreans had an early inkling of the current downside. In the middle of the presidential election advertising marketing campaign in 2022, Monitor Youthful-gil, an opposition chief, was attacked by a bludgeon-wielding man in his 70s, who subsequently killed himself in jail.

Jin Jeong-hwa, a YouTuber whose channel openly helps Mr. Lee and who live-streamed the knife assault on Tuesday, talked about he may actually really feel the rising political rigidity and hatred regularly. As quickly as, when he visited a conservative metropolis in central South Korea, people who acknowledged him tried to chase him out, threatening him with knives and sickles.

“You see loads of anger, vilification, character assassination and demonizing,” Mr. Jin talked about. “I’m not sure whether or not or not rational debate on factors and ideologies is possible anymore.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Yoon wished Mr. Lee a quick restoration, calling assaults in opposition to politicians “an enemy of free democracy.” His authorities ordered beefed-up public security for politicians.

Nonetheless analysts observed little chance of political polarization easing anytime shortly as a result of the rival occasions geared up for parliamentary elections in April. Social media, notably YouTube, has turn into so influential as a channel of spreading data and shaping public opinion that politicians talked about they found themselves beholden to populist requires from activist YouTubers who had been extensively accused of stoking fear and hatred.

Every Mr. Yoon and Mr. Lee have fervent on-line supporters who often resort to whipping up insults, conspiracy theories and even thinly veiled lack of life threats in opposition to their foes.

“Hate has develop right into a every day norm” in South Korean politics, talked about Mr. Park, the head of MIN Consulting. “Politicians ought to face the truth that comparable points can happen as soon as extra,” he talked about, referring to the knife assault in opposition to Mr. Lee.