By Islamuddin Sajid
ANKARA (AA) – South Korea’s ruling party leader was wounded after being attacked with a hammer at a rally in Seoul on Monday.
Song Young-gil, chairman of the Democratic Party, was struck from behind on the head several times, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Video footage showed the assailant, later identified as a 70-year-old YouTuber, had wrapped the hammer in a black plastic bag.
Song was rushed to a hospital and needed stitches to stop bleeding from his head, officials said.
He was at a rally in the capital’s Sinchon area, campaigning for Lee Jae-myung, the party’s candidate for the March 9 presidential election.
The attacker, whose name has not been released, was immediately captured and handed over to police.
He “appeared to have followed” Song on the campaign trail since last month, the report said.
According to witnesses, the assailant “shouted at the scene that he opposes South Korea-US military exercises.”
Lee and the main opposition People Power Party’s presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the attack as “a threat to democracy.”