S.Korean opposition leader in stable condition after assaulted

Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of South Korea's largest opposition party the Grand National Party (GNP), was in a stable condition after she was assaulted and taken to hospital Saturday afternoon, hospital officials said in Seoul Sunday.

Park was attacked on her right face by a man, identified only by his surname Ji, with a box cutter Saturday afternoon when she was canvassing for Oh Se-hoon, GNP candidate for Seoul mayor in Sinchon in Seoul. She was then taken to the nearby Yonsei University's Severance Hospital.

Hospital officials said Park suffered an 11-centimeter-long cut to her face from ear to jaw, which required over 60 stitches, but refused to tell how deep the wound was. An earlier report said the wound was 1 cm to 3 cm deep.

Hospital officials said Park's life was "no way in danger," but a complete recovery would take at least two weeks as the cut caused extensive damage to her jaw muscles.

Two suspects, the 50-year-old Ji and another 54-year-old man with his surname as Park, was arrested on the scene and taken to police station.

Ji had earlier said he was motivated by the desire to safeguard the country and democracy, the Yonhap News reported.

"Ji maintains that he committed the act out of anger that he had to serve jail terms amounting to almost 15 years without doing anything wrong due to breaches of the country's democratic process, " Seoul police chief Han Jin-ho told a news briefing.

"We are still investigating his movements earlier in the day and the people close to him to confirm his motive," Han said.

It is still not clear whether the two suspects are accomplices. The Seoul metropolitan Police Agency told reporters Sunday after a preliminary investigation that the suspect Park has donated 2,000 (about 2 U.S. dollars) to the ruling Uri Party each month since early 2004 while Uri Party proved later Park's membership of its Seoul chapter.

"Currently, they are both saying they do not know one another, but we are continuing to investigate," Han Jin-ho said.

The GNP had accused the government of failing to guarantee security of campaigns for the local elections on May 31 and asked the resignation of National Police Commissioner General Lee Taek- soon.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday denounced the attack against the opposition party leader as an "unpardonable incident" and ordered a thorough investigation.

Uri Party Chairman Chung Dong-young described the assault against Park as "unforgivable act" and "shocking" after hearing about the incident.

Park, the eldest daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, is regarded as one of the most hopeful candidates for the next presidential election.

Source: Xinhua