South Korean opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked on Tuesday while talking to reporters in the port city of Busan, Yonhap news agency reported.
Images aired on South Korean television channels showed Lee on the ground as someone pressed a handkerchief on his neck.
Video on social media appeared to show a man wearing a blue paper crown lunging at Lee and hitting him with something in the neck as Lee was speaking to a crowd of reporters. Lee then appeared to collapse as multiple people, including cameramen, crowded around him.
In videos shared on social media, the crown the attacker was wearing appeared to read, “I’m Lee Jae-myung,” according to The Associated Press.
One witness told a local television station the attacker told Lee he was a supporter and that he wanted his autograph, AP reported. He then used a knife-like weapon and stabbed Lee in the neck, the witness said, according to AP.
Lee was conscious as he was taken to hospital, and the unidentified assailant was arrested at the scene, Yonhap reported.
Busan’s emergency office said Lee was visiting the construction site of a new airport, AP reported.
Chief of the Democratic Party, Lee lost to conservative Yoon Suk Yeol in a tight presidential race last year.
President Yoon expressed “deep concern” about the attack, his spokesperson said.
A former child factory worker who suffered an industrial accident as a teenage school drop-out, Lee rose to political stardom partly by playing up his rags-to-riches tale.
But his bid for the top office has been overshadowed by a string of scandals.
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