Did Han Dong-hoon, the chairman of the South Korean ruling People Power Party (PPP) harshly criticize the leader of the largest opposition party, Lee Jae-myung, after the knife attack on Lee on January 2, 2024? No, that's not true: The video footage that make up this claim was taken before the attack in September 2023.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok (archived here) by @midas7889 on January 1, 2024. It opened (translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff):
Han Dong-hoon's comment after Lee Jae-myung was attacked.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jan 3 01:01:47 2024 UTC)
On January 2, 2024, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea's main opposition, the Democratic Party (DP), was stabbed (archived here) in the neck by a 66-year-old man. The video on TikTok shows three different videos of former Justice Minister Han who is now leading (archived here) temporarily the governing People Power Party (PPP).
The video consists of three different parts that start at the 0:00 mark, the 0:35 mark and the 0:52 mark respectively. The first footage (archived here) is from the YouTube channel Sisa Focus TV where it was published on January 1, 2024. It reflects the actual comment on the knife attack Han made at Daejeon City's New Year's meeting of the PPP. What he said in the video was also cited by local news (archived here) reports (archived here).
Han said (as translated):
The attack should be seen as an attack on myself. This is what we can do for our fellow citizens as a discerning party called the People Power Party and as discerning citizens. Again, I sincerely wish Mr. Lee a speedy recovery.
The second footage (archived here), published on September 5, 2023, by the JTBC News official YouTube channel, shows Han's comment during a parliamentary meeting on September 4, 2023. It refers to the hunger (archived here) strike (archived here) of opposition leader Lee, which he began to protest the government, which he said would destroy democracy (archived here). Lee had been charged by prosecutors for allegedly accepting bribes from a development company that developed DaeJang-Dong, a remote residential area in the city of Seongnam, during his time as mayor of Seongnam.
Han said (as translated):
Whether or not to go on hunger strike and in whatever form is a matter of personal freedom, but it should not interfere with the criminal investigation or trial. If it interferes with the criminal investigation or trial, don't you think that every suspect will go on hunger strike when summoned, even petty criminals?
The third footage (archived here) refers to Han's comment during a doorstep press meeting at the National Assembly building on September 18, 2023. It was published by the OBS News official YouTube channel. Han commented on the ongoing criminal case about Lee's bribe scandal.
Han said (as translated):
No bad precedent should be set here; the legal system was stopped because the suspect harmed himself by going on a hunger strike.
Lee's hunger strike had interrupted the proceedings for two weeks.
The video on TikTok is highly misleading as the author combines several of Han's statements and pretends they all refer to the knife attack on Lee.
