Page 6 - aruba-today-20240103

A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 3 January 2024

South Korean opposition leader is stabbed in the neck

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and status, citing privacy rules.
JIWON SONG Police and emergency of-
Associated Press ficials earlier said Lee was
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) conscious after the attack
— South Korea's tough- and wasn't in critical condi-
speaking liberal opposition tion.
leader, Lee Jae-myung, President Yoon Suk Yeol
was stabbed in the neck expressed deep concern
Tuesday by an unidentified about Lee's health and or-
knife-wielding man who at- dered authorities to inves-
tempted to kill the politician tigate the attack, saying
during his visit to the south- such violence would not
eastern city of Busan, police be tolerated, according to
said. Yoon's office.
Lee, 59, the head of the Lee lost the 2022 presiden-
main opposition Demo- tial election to Yoon by 0.7
cratic Party, was airlifted to percentage points, the nar-
a Seoul hospital after receiv- rowest margin recorded in
ing emergency treatment in a South Korean presidential
Busan. Lee's party later said election.
he was recovering at an Recent public surveys in-
intensive care unit at the dicated Lee and his main
Seoul National University conservative rival Han
Hospital following a two- South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is seen after he was injured in Busan, South Korea, Dong-hoon, a former justice
hour operation. Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. minister, are the two early
The attack happened Associated Press favorites to succeed Yoon
as Lee walked through a deployed to the area for porter. Lee's Democratic Party as president when his single
crowd of journalists and crowd control and traffic Sohn said the suspect, aged called the incident "a terror- five-year term ends in 2027.
others after a tour of the management. about 67, told investigators ist attack on Lee and a seri- Since his defeat, Lee has
proposed site of a new air- TV footage showed Lee, his that he bought the 18-cen- ous threat to democracy." It been a harsh critic of Yoon's
port in Busan. The attacker eyes closed, lying on the timeter (7-inch) knife online. called on police to make a major policies. Last year,
approached Lee, saying ground as a person pressed He said police are investi- thorough, swift investigation. Lee held a 24-day hun-
he wanted his autograph, a handkerchief to his neck. gating the motive for the At the Seoul National Univer- ger strike to protest what
then stabbed him in the left A witness, Jin Jeong-hwa, attack. sity Hospital, party spokes- he called Yoon's failure to
side of his neck, senior Busan told YTN television that Lee Other officers confirmed to person Kwon Chil-seung told oppose Japan's release of
police officer Sohn Jae-han had bled a lot. The Associated Press that reporters that Lee's jugular treated radioactive waste-
said in a briefing. Videos circulated on so- police are expected to re- vein was damaged and water from its crippled Fu-
Sohn said Democratic Party cial media showed the quest that the suspect be that he had a medical pro- kushima nuclear power, his
officials quickly subdued the suspect, wearing a paper formally arrested for alleged cedure called revascular- handling of the country's
attacker before police offi- crown reading "I'm Lee attempted murder because ization. Kwon cited the hos- post-pandemic economy
cers detained him. He said Jae-myung," in a possible he told investigators he in- pital, whose public affairs of- and his hard-line policies on
41 police officers had been attempt to pose as a sup- tended to kill Lee. fice refused to disclose Lee's North Korea.q

Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka protest

planned closure of U.N. office, fearing

abandonment

there permanently. gees receive basic allow- gees said in a petition to
About 100 Rohingya refu- ance from the U.N. agency the U.N. agency's represen-
gees live in Sri Lanka, most and are provided with lim- tative.
of them rescued at sea by ited health care by the Sri The petition said the refu-
the navy while they were Lankan government. How- gees were upset to learn of
trying to reach Indonesia ever, the refugee children the office's upcoming clo-
after fleeing Myanmar for don't receive education sure and pleaded for it to
Bangladesh. and adults aren't allowed "help us find a permanent
Rohingya refugees residing in Sri Lanka protest outside the UN's About 740,000 Rohingya to work. solution in another country
refugee agency office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Jan. 2, were resettled in Bangla- "We didn't intend to come to that will help us overcome
2024. desh after fleeing their Sri Lanka, but were rescued uncertainty and not make
Associated Press homes in Myanmar to es- off the seas in Sri Lanka and us and our children perma-
cape a brutal counterinsur- brought to Sri Lanka by the nently stateless."The U.N.
By KRISHAN FRANCIS they fear losing their living al- gency campaign by secu- navy. We also had to endure refugee agency could not
Associated Press lowance once the agency's rity forces. But the camps in a hard time in detention in immediately be reached
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) office in the island nation Bangladesh are squalid, with Sri Lanka and still live a very Tuesday.
— A group of Rohingya closes at the end of this year. surging gang violence and hard life in a new country The office in Sri Lanka was
refugees living in Sri Lanka The protesters also want rampant hunger, leading where we can't speak our especially active during the
staged a protest outside to be resettled in another many to flee again. language, and many don't country's quarter-century
the office of the U.N. refu- country because Sri Lanka Ruki Fernando, a rights activ- have family members, rela- civil war which ended in
gee agency Tuesday, saying does not allow them to live ist in Sri Lanka, said the refu- tives and friends," the refu- 2009.q