Seoul: The government has officially designated the 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung, which took place while he was serving as the opposition leader, as a terror case, as confirmed by the prime minister's office.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok led a meeting of the National Counterterrorism Committee. The committee concluded that the stabbing of Lee, then the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), meets the criteria for an act of terrorism under the Act on Counter-Terrorism.
This designation marks the first time a specific incident has been formally classified as terrorism since the law was enacted in 2016. It provides the legal foundation for an additional investigation into the case, which involved Lee being stabbed in the neck by a 67-year-old man in Busan on January 2, 2024. Lee underwent surgery and was hospitalized following the attack.
The Democratic Party has accused law enforcement authorities, under the previous administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol, of attempting to destroy evidence at the scene to downplay the severity of the incident. Prime Minister Kim expressed his concern that such an attack should never have occurred and committed to reviewing and strengthening the nation's counterterrorism measures to enhance public safety.
The government plans to conduct a thorough investigation into the case and enhance protection for major political figures during election campaigns to prevent similar incidents in the future. Following the terror case designation, the National Investigation Headquarters under the National Police Agency announced the formation of a task force to investigate the case "transparently and objectively."
"We will do our best to uncover the truth now that the stabbing incident has been designated as a terror case," the headquarters stated in a press notice. Officials have indicated that the task force will examine potential collusion related to the case, the reasons for the initial failure to classify the incident as a terror attack, and whether evidence was destroyed in the early stages of the law enforcement response.