Man stabs himself in front of Seoul Mayor

An elderly man on Friday stabbed himself while Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was speaking at the opening of an exhibition, South Korean officials said.

The 79-year old man, identified only by his last name Lee, approached Mayor Park with a weapon and stabbed himself in the abdomen, after shouting "Can you say you are a mayor?" and "I need to die", according to the witnesses. He was drunk when the incident took place, Yonhap News Agency reported. According to the police, Lee reportedly had conflicts with a district office after the city government decided not to carry out a development project. The amount of compensation suggested by the district office fell short of what was asked by a development committee headed by Lee. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and is in stable condition, the police added.

-IANS