Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan remains in critical condition after going into cardiac arrest during a visit to Vietnam, local media reported Friday.
Lee collapsed around 1 p.m. the same day while preparing to return to Korea at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. He experienced breathing difficulties and went into cardiac arrest while being transferred to a hospital.
Local cardiac specialists diagnosed him with myocardial infarction — more commonly referred to as a heart attack — and performed an emergency procedure to insert a stent. Lee is reportedly being kept alive with mechanical respiratory support.
Lee has been serving as vice chair of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council since October 2025 and was visiting Ho Chi Minh City on an official trip.
A longtime pro-democracy activist during South Korea’s authoritarian era in the 1970s and 1980s, Lee later served as education minister under the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003) and as prime minister during the Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-2008).
He went on to support the Moon Jae-in administration (2017-2022) as leader of the Democratic Party of Korea and served seven terms as a lawmaker.
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