Tag: stabbing

It will be interesting to see what more comes out about the motivations for the stabbing of Lee Jae-myung. Was this guy really a right wing wacko posing as a Democratic Party member as many online are portraying him?:

The man apprehended for attacking Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, a 67-year-old individual surnamed Kim, is taken to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency. (Yonhap)

The real estate agent surnamed Kim who attacked Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday in Busan has been found to have been a member of the People Power Party (PPP) for several years before joining the Democratic Party 10 months ago.

Kim’s acquaintances have testified that he frequently joined the far-right “Taegeukgi rallies” and enjoyed watching political content on YouTube.

The police, in connection to the statements made by Kim’s acquaintances about his party membership, checked relevant materials with the cooperation of the PPP and the Democratic Party after obtaining a search warrant from the court on Wednesday.

Article 24 of the Political Parties Act stipulates that the roster of party members “shall not be subject to inspection, with the exception of the case where a court requests it in the interests of a judgment, and where an election management commission concerned wants to confirm a matter pertaining to a party member.” It also states that a writ issued by a judge is compulsory in the event of a criminal investigation.

According to officials from both the PPP and the Democratic Party, Kim was a member of the United Future Party, the predecessor of the PPP, and joined the Democratic Party in March 2023 and remained a member until recently.

A Democratic Party official stated that Kim was “known to be a local party member in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.”

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link.

If you are wondering why police are not disclosing more information about the political ideology of the suspect who stabbed Lee Jae-myung, it is because of a law that prevents them from doing so:

The decision by the police not to disclose the political affiliations of the man who attacked Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), with a knife, has sparked controversy. The DPK has criticized law enforcement authorities for sharing investigative information selectively.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency announced, Monday, that its identity disclosure committee would convene a meeting on Tuesday to determine whether to release the personal information of the 67-year-old male suspect, identified so far only by the surname Kim.

If the committee decides in favor of further disclosure, Kim’s full name, age and photo will be released.

However, the police stressed that the history of his political affiliations would remain undisclosed, irrespective of the committee’s decision.

“Technically, it cannot be disclosed as per relevant laws. We are currently discussing with the prosecution about the matter. But if we disclose (his political affiliations), there could be penalties,” an official at the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said during a press briefing.

The official was referring to the Political Parties Act, which bans investigative bodies from publicly sharing information about a suspect’s political affiliations that could be ascertained during investigations. Violation of this law may lead to imprisonment of up to three years.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but police could face up to 3-years in jail if they released the information.

Here is the latest on the Lee Jae-myung stabbing, the criminal who committed the crime may have had an accomplice:

The suspect behind the stabbing attack against opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is seen being escorted to a court on Jan. 4, 2024, for a hearing. (Yonhap)

 Police have detained a man in his 70s for investigation on suspicions of aiding and abetting the suspect in the stabbing attack against opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, officials said Monday.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said the man was put under emergency detention the previous day on suspicions of helping the 67-year-old assailant, identified by his surname Kim, commit the crime, even though he was aware of the attack plan.

Kim stabbed Lee, chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), in the neck with a camping knife in the southeastern city of Busan on Jan. 2. Lee underwent surgery to repair a major vein in his neck and has since been recovering at a hospital in Seoul.

Ahead of the crime, Kim had written an “excuse letter” to explain the motive of his crime and his political beliefs, and the 70-something man agreed to send the letter on Kim’s behalf by mail to an unspecified location, according to police.

Police plan to question him over whether he colluded with Kim in connection with the stabbing attack.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I would not be surprised that this old guy probably has a mental illness of some kind:

A 77-year-old man passing by the defense ministry compound Tuesday took out a knife and stabbed two police officers guarding the compound, which also houses the presidential office. 

The man, identified by his family name Park, yelled in front of the compound and attacked the officers at 1:20 p.m. as they tried to subdue his shouting. One of the officers was stabbed in the abdomen and the other in the left arm, and both were taken to a hospital.

The man was arrested at the scene.

The ministry compound houses the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The word “ajumma” is supposedly no longer acceptable to say in polite Korean society and one woman took her offense to the term to the extreme by launching a knife attack after being called it on the subway:

A 37-year-old woman accused of injuring three people with a knife on a subway told police that she did so because someone called her “ajumma,” police said Saturday.

The accused, whose identity was withheld, is charged with injuring two women in her 60s and a man in his 50s inside a subway train headed to Jukjeon Station in the city of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

According to the subway police, the accused was speaking on the phone when one of the two women asked her to lower her voice, calling her “ajumma,” which she said offended her.

Although the word, “ajumma,” is a casual way of referring to a middle-aged woman who is unrelated to the speaker — coming from the more polite word, “ajumeoni” — it has grown to have a negative connotation over the years among Koreans.

One of the victims underwent surgery, although none of the injuries were fatal.

Korea Herald via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

I would have to think this guy must have some mental issues or was drunk for killing someone for being too loud:

A man surnamed Lee in his 40s has been arrested by police for allegedly killing his neighbor who “made too much noise” at night.

Busan Saha Police Station said Tuesday that it is investigating the man on the charge of murder.

The suspect is accused of stabbing a 31-year-old who lived in the same apartment building in Saha-gu, Busan, around 2 a.m. Tuesday. He was caught red-handed after the victim’s friend filed a report to police.

The victim was sent to a nearby hospital but died in the middle of surgery around 6 a.m. Tuesday.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but apparently the neighbor was being loud with his friends in front of the apartment while waiting for a taxi.

This crazy leftist should be happy he only received 12 years for his attempted murder of US Ambassador Mark Lippert:

The Korean man who attacked U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert with a knife last year was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted murder by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The top court convicted 56-year-old Kim Ki-jong, who slashed the ambassador with a knife during a forum in Seoul on March 5, 2015, for attempted murder, assaulting a foreign envoy and obstruction of duty.

“It is appropriate to uphold the lower court ruling that though it was not completed, he had the intention to murder,” the court said, “taking into consideration the details of the crime and his motive, weapon of choice, the size of the knife and usage, magnitude of the attack, as well as the area attacked and its repetitiveness.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Further Reading:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2015/03/attacker-contacted-a-north-korean-spy-prior-to-slashing-of-us-ambassador/

Here is another story of someone from China committing a crime against a Korean national on Jeju:

A Chinese man suspected of attacking an elderly woman with a lethal weapon at a Catholic church in Jeju was arrested on Saturday, police said.

The 50-year-old man, whose identity was withheld by police, was hiding at an unidentified place in Seoguipo on the southern resort island of Jeju when police nabbed him, the Jeju Seobu Police Station said. The place is some 40 kilometers away from the scene of the incident.

He has since been under probe on attempted murder charges, they added.

The Chinese man fled the scene after stabbing the chest and abdomen of a 61-year-old Korean woman who was praying inside a Catholic church in Jeju alone at about 8:45 a.m., the police said. The type of weapon used was not specified.

The woman, identified only by her surname Kim, was in critical condition.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I can’t help but think how much different the media reaction would be in South Korea if a USFK servicemember walked into a church and tried to murder someone like this.