Attacked opposition leader Lee's surgery completed, progress closely monitored
SEOUL/BUSAN, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan earlier in the day, had his emergent surgery completed, the Democratic Party (DP) said Tuesday.
"It took longer than expected and we are closely following his progress," the party said at Seoul National University Hospital where the surgery was performed.
"We strongly condemn the act of political terror against Lee," it said, calling for authorities to thoroughly investigate the case to find the truth behind the attack.
The DP chairman was stabbed on the left side of his neck by a paper crown-wearing man in his 60s posing as an autograph-seeker at 10:27 a.m. after touring the construction site of a new airport on Busan's Gadeok Island.
One thing I'm still not clear about is what sort of security Lee had. He got bundled off by a few men the very instant the attack happened, but if you watch the relevant video clip, those men went a few yards, then collapsed under Lee's weight—a clumsy thing to happen, and probably evidence that these Good Samaritans were likely not any sort of Secret Service (who would've been trained better). Lee used to be mayor of Seongnam City and governor of Gyeonggi Province, so you'd think he'd have competent security around him wherever he went. Then again, if someone is absolutely determined to hurt or kill someone else, there's little that can be done in the moment to halt such an attack. I'm not blaming the people around Lee for what happened, but I'm intensely curious as to what security measures were in place at the time of the attack. Maybe Lee's the type to love crowds and to tell security to stand back a bit.
When I was reading about this yesterday (Korean sources), it was constantly being mentioned that Lee did not have any official security and wasn't eligible for a full security detail because he is not currently a presidential candidate; apparently being former mayor/governor does not entitle one to a full security detail either.
ReplyDeleteThere were police present, of course, but... well, let's just say that they didn't seem to be ready for this sort of incident.
Not having official security despite having held some major offices strikes me as wrong somehow.
ReplyDeleteWell, he's not a presidential candidate, so he's not going to get the Secret Service (or Korean equivalent) treatment (it's the same in the US, by the way). And there were plenty of police present. They just didn't react properly. But, like you said, "if someone is absolutely determined to hurt or kill someone else, there's little that can be done in the moment to halt such an attack." As the article you linked to mentions, the guy was pretending to be a supporter--he didn't just randomly run up brandishing a knife. I'm just not sure that there is much that could have been done to prevent this.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Now, I'm sure someone like Nancy Pelosi has security, but from what you're saying, it sounds as if she's paying out of pocket for it.
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