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Agence France-Presse

Reuters

A South Korean ruling party lawmaker was struck on the head with a rock on a street in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district on Thursday by an unidentified assailant, Yonhap news agency reported.
Bae Hyun-jin, 40, was taken to hospital, the report said, adding her condition was “not life threatening”.
The lawmaker was bleeding before being transferred to Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital in Seoul, it said, adding she was struck on the back of her head.
The male assailant, who allegedly asked her name before assaulting her, was arrested by the police at the scene of the attack, said Yonhap.

He reportedly told the police he was 15 years old.
No further details about the assailant or his motive were available, and the Gangnam police station was not immediately available for comment.
The People Power Party’s interim leader, Han Dong-hoon, later told reporters at the hospital that Bae had bled quite a lot after the attack but was now recovering, adding that such an incident should never happen again.
Bae Hyun-jin asked him to “tell the public not to worry too much” as she was “overcoming the situation well”.

Bae, a former news anchor, was President Yoon Suk-yeol’s spokeswoman when he was the president-elect.
In a statement, party spokesman, Park Jung-ha expressed “serious concern about the renewed violence and political terrorism in this chaotic era filled with extreme politics and politics of hatred”.
“Extremist acts of violence are never acceptable under any circumstances.”
The opposition Democratic Party condemned Thursday’s attack against Bae, as “political terrorism that threatens democracy.”
“It is an attack on democracy,” the party said in a statement.


The attack comes just about a month after the country’s opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck while talking to reporters in the port city of Busan.
He underwent a surgery and returned to work on January 17.
Several other high-profile South Korean politicians have been attacked in public in recent years.
Song Young-gil, who led the Democratic Party before Lee, was struck in the head with a blunt object in 2022.
In 2006, politician Park Geun-hye, who later became president in 2013, was attacked with a knife at a rally.
Stabbed South Korean opposition chief recovering after jugular reconstruction
South Korea is generally a safe country, with a murder rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics.
The global average is six homicide deaths per 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.
Police have vowed to not “hesitate” to use their firearms after the series of stabbings shook the typically low-crime country.


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South Korean ruling party MP, Bae Hyun-jin, hospitalised after attack in Seoul’s Gangnam, ‘15-year-old’ arrested

A man watches a news broadcast showing footage of the scene where South Korean ruling People Power Party’s lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin being assaulted. Photo: AFP

Bae Hyun-jin, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker was struck on the head with a rock on a street in Seoul on Thursday by an unidentified assailant. Photo: SCMPOST

Bae Hyun-jin was taken to hospital, after being attacked, and her condition was described as “not life threatening”. Photo: SCMPOST

Man stabbed South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to stop him from becoming president: police

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung speaks as he leaves a hospital in Seoul on Wednesday. Photo: AP

South Korean opposition chief Lee Jae-myung stabbed in neck, hospitalised

South Korean opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung falls after being attacked by an unidentified man during his visit to Busan on Tuesday. Photo: Yonhap via Reuters

Lee Jae-myung is carried on a stretcher by emergency responders after the attack in Busan, South Korea, on Tuesday. Photo: Newsis via AP

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News

Asia

East Asia

Bae Hyun-jin, was struck on the head with a rock on a street in Seoul. The male assailant was arrested at the scene, and reportedly told police he was 15
The attack comes a month after the country’s opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck while talking to reporters in the port city of Busan


The attack on Bae Hyun-jin comes about a month after the country’s opposition party leader was stabbed in the neck while talking to reporters in the city of Busan.


Crime

Park Geun-hye