South Korean opposition leader who was stabbed in an attack accuses president of divisive politics

By KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean opposition leader who was stabbed in an attack earlier this month and underwent surgery has accused the country’s conservative president of promoting divisive politics and worsening an already toxic discourse in the nation. Lee Jae-myung spoke to reporters on Wednesday at his first news conference since the attack, and claimed that with President Yoon Suk Yeol, “our society has become even more extremely polarized.” He described the attack on him as an attempted assassination in broad daylight, a previously unimaginable event in the South. He also urged voters to support his liberal Democratic Party in the April parliamentary elections in order to keep what he described as Yoon’s “prosecutorial dictatorship” in check.