The knife-wielding man attacked Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, South Korea’s biggest political party, in January after approaching him asking for his autograph at an event in the southeastern city of Busan. After being detained by police, he told investigators that he wanted to kill Lee to
A court verdict called the attack “a grave challenge” to the country’s election systems and an act that “significantly destroys social consensus and confidence on the basic liberal democratic principles,” according to Yonhap news agency. It cited the verdict as saying the attacker had long loathed Lee because of differences of political opinions, practiced stabbing his neck in advance and followed him on five public events.