Man who stabbed South Korean opposition leader Lee sentenced to 15 years in prison

A man who stabbed South Korean opposition leaderLee Jae-myung in January this yearwas sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday (July 5), the news agency Associated Press reported citing court officials.The knife-wielding man attacked Lee, who is the head of the Democratic Party, afterapproaching him asking for his autograph at an event in the southeastern city of Busan.

Lee was stabbed in the neck. On Friday, the Busan District Court said the man was handed the prison term after being found guilty of an attempted murder and a violation of an election law.The court said that both the man and prosecutors have one week to appeal.

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Attack took place before election

The attack happened just months before South Korea's parliamentary election in April, in which the Democratic Party and other opposition parties won a massive victory against President Yoon Suk Yeol’s People Power Party.

After being detained by police, the man told investigators that he wanted to killLee to prevent him from becoming the country's president.

The attacker's identity is not yet known but the police earlier said that he was aged 67.

During police questioning, the attacker also said he was unhappy with what he thought was a lack of progress in authorities’ investigations of Lee over various corruption allegations.

'A grave challenge'

The court verdictcalled 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,” a report by theYonhap news agency said.

Citing the verdict, the report said that theattacker had long loathed Lee because of differences of political opinions, practised stabbing his neck in advance and followed him to five public events.

(With inputs from agencies)