Did the Democratic Party want its leader Lee Jae-myung to be flown to Seoul by helicopter to "control information," after he was stabbed in the neck on January 2, 2024? No, that's not true: It was a request from Lee's family. The leader of South Korea's Democratic Party (DP), the main opposition party, was immediately taken to Pusan National University Hospital after the attack. It was his family that requested that he be transferred to Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital, according to a press conference held by the party and the hospital.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published by @0l038388588 on January 5, 2024. It stated, as translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff:
Pusan National University Hospital said: The Democratic Party requested 119 Helicopter.
In PNU hospital, they cannot control information. If Lee stays in the PNU hospital, the party cannot control his discharge date, prognosis, or severity of wounds. This is the reason for the transfer to Seoul National University Hospital.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Jan 8 02:09:19 2024 UTC)
On January 2, 2024, Lee Jae-myung, South Korea's main opposition leader, was stabbed in the neck by a 66-year-old man (archived here). He was visiting the site on Gadeok-do, a small island in the city of Busan, where an airport is to be built. After the attack, an ambulance took him to Pusan National University (PNU) Hospital (archived here). Lee received emergency treatment at PNU Hospital and was transported by helicopter to Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery (archived here and here).
On January 4, 2024, SNU Hospital said in a press conference (archived here) that the transfer was requested by PNU Hospital. A PNU hospital official told the press that Lee's family requested the transfer to Seoul and PNU hospital accepted it (archived here and here). The floor leader of the Democratic Party, Hong Ik-pyo, also mentioned that there was a family request in an interview with MBC radio (starting at the 8:30-minute mark, archived here).
