The National Assembly's special committee for a parliamentary inquiry (the special committee) looking into the shortage of ballot papers in the 9th nationwide local elections (the June 3 local elections) entered the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, at about 1:11 p.m. on the 2nd. It came 27 days after starting a "blockade protest" on the 5th of last month.
Lawmakers on the special committee finished questioning at the Songpa-gu election commission in the morning and arrived at the Handball Gymnasium around 12 p.m. Police then pulled out the protesters blocking the 2-2 entrance of the Handball Gymnasium one by one, and the lawmakers were able to enter the building about 1 hour and 10 minutes after they arrived.
However, protesters are continuing to object while gathered around the 2-2 entrance. One protester tried to push the barricade and was restrained by police.
Police are warning protesters that they could face charges such as interfering with official duties if they assault officers or obstruct efforts to secure a passageway.
The Handball Gymnasium was used as the Songpa-gu ballot counting center during the June 3 local elections. Lawmakers on the special committee are checking ballot papers, voting tools, and other items inside.
According to a briefing by the Songpa-gu election commission, the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium rental office currently holds 104 copies of the poll book, 27 copies of the early voting record, 146 copies of handover documents including ballot boxes and election-related papers, 460 copies of the vote-count status sheet, 428–434 boxes for storing ballot papers, four ballot boxes from Jamsil 7-dong, election-related documents, ledgers for receipt and return processing of home voting and other items, and storage boxes for envelopes containing miscast or mis-sorted ballot papers.
There are also ballot sorters, audit and counting machines, laptops for reporting ballot counts, other vote-counting equipment, and rented PCs and printers, fax machines, and telephones.