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Lee Jae-myung was attacked while speaking to reporters during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan.
South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was hospitalized after being stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan.
Lee, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, was stabbed in the left side of his neck during a question-and-answer session with journalists on Tuesday morning, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Citing witnesses, it was said that the suspect asked Lee for an autograph and posed as a supporter. He then attacked him with a weapon that was between 20 and 30 centimeters long.
The unidentified man was arrested at the scene, the authority added.
Images in South Korean media showed Lee lying on his back on the floor with his eyes closed as officers crowded around him and one pressed a cloth against his neck.
Yonhap said the politician was bleeding but remained conscious.
Lee, who previously toured the site of a new airport under construction on Gadeok Island in Busan, ran for president in 2022 but lost to conservative Yoon Suk-yeol.
Yoon said Tuesday's attack was unacceptable and called for an immediate and thorough investigation.
Born into a poor farming family, Lee entered politics when he was elected mayor of Seongnam, a satellite city of Seoul, in 2010. He worked in a factory to complete night school and become a human rights lawyer.