South Korean President labels attack on MP act of 'terrorism'
The Hindu
South Korean President calls attack on ruling party lawmaker by a minor "terrorism" amid political tensions.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called an attack by a minor against a ruling party lawmaker this week an act of "terrorism", his office said on January 26.
Lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin, 40, was attacked on January 25 by a minor who repeatedly struck her on the back of the head with a rock in Seoul's upscale Gangnam district.
She has since been hospitalised and is recovering, after medical staff used a stapler to perform two sutures to treat a non-life-threatening, one-centimetre scalp injury, according to doctors who treated her.
Police have identified the assailant as a 15-year-old minor, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which reported he was ordered hospitalised for observation on January 26 morning.
The attack came just weeks after opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck while talking to reporters in the port city of Busan.
"The terrorism against politicians, who are representatives of the people, is no different from terrorism against the people," Mr. Yoon said of the attack on Ms. Bae, according to senior Presidential Secretary for political affairs Han O-sub.
Mr. Yoon's remarks come a day after both the ruling People Power Party and opposition Democratic Party characterised the incident as an act of "political terrorism."
