South Korean opposition leader’s stabbing

An assailant stabbing South Korean opposition leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung in Busan, a port city in the southeastern part of the country is shocking in itself. The 59-year-old leader, who is facing bribery charges, had been stabbed in the side of the neck by a 67-year-old who emerged from the crowd as Lee Jae-myung was walking with journalists.

Lee Jae-myung has been flown to Seoul after initial medical care at Busan. Though the doctors have said that it was not a critical injury, the actual state of the opposition politician remains unknown.

Lee Jae-myung had lost the presidential election in 2022 to his conservative rival, Yoon Seuk-yeol, by a narrow margin. President Yoon Seuk-yeol issued a statement where he expressed “deep concern”. The president’s office had quoted him as saying, “This type of violence must never be tolerated under any circumstances.”

What is peculiar about this attack on Lee Jae-myung is that two other leaders when they were in opposition faced attacks. Lee’s predecessor, Song Young-gil, was attacked in 2022 at a public event. And much earlier, conservative leader when in opposition, Park Geun-hye, was attacked with a knife in 2006. She later became president.

This leads to the speculation that these attacks on leaders in the opposition cannot be described as instances of political violence. There is political violence of a general kind when from time to time South Korean students protested against dictatorial leaders in the country and clashed with the troops. But there were no cases of assassination.

The individual assailants show that they either have personal grudges due to various reasons, or they are of unsound mind. The assailant of Lee Jae-myung told the police that he had purchased the seven-inch knife online. It is clear that the gun laws in South Korea are strict and it is not possible for people to buy guns or pistols. These isolated cases of assault on political leaders who happen to be in the opposition could be due to the fact that they do not have the kind of protection of guards as do politicians in office.

Those angry with political leaders can easily attack them when they are in the opposition. It has been found in Japan when former prime minister Shinzo Abe was attacked at a public meeting in 2022. But the motive of the man who killed Abe was revealed. He was angry with the former Japanese prime minister because of Abe’s association with the Unified Church in South Korea. It would be necessary to establish the motive in the South Korean assailant of Lee Jae-myung.

But the attacks on opposition leaders cannot be dismissed as stray and bizarre acts. There seems to be a pattern in the individual assailants. Either there is not enough accountability in South Korean politics, or the leaders do not pay attention to the grievances of the people. There seems to be a certain hierarchical system which makes it difficult for the people at the bottom to reach out to people at the top.

Not that openness and free interaction will eliminate violence altogether, but it is necessary to know why the act of violence has been committed in the political sphere. If the assailant is a person of unsound mind, then too it is necessary to know why such a person is roaming freely and he gets possession of weapons. South Korea has had a turbulent period till the 1980s, but it has been sailing well through democratic changes. That is why, it is all the more disturbing when violence disturbs a functioning democracy. There have been ideological swings in Seoul, from conservative to liberal, which is a natural phenomenon in a democracy. But violence strikes a discordant note.