Members of the National Assembly's Special Committee for the National Investigation enter through Entrance 2-2 of the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd to conduct an on-site inspection into the shortage of ballot papers during the 9th Nationwide Local Elections (June 3 local elections). /Courtesy of Hyeon Jeong-min

The National Assembly's Special Committee on the Parliamentary Probe (special committee) looking into the shortage of ballot papers in the 9th nationwide local elections (June 3 local elections) moved to enter Olympic Park Handball Arena at about 12:55 p.m. on the 2nd.

Members of the special committee arrived near the site around 12 p.m. that day. Police then secured a passage to Entrance 2-2 of the Handball Arena, and from about 12:47 p.m., special committee members also headed to the entrance.

As of 12:58 p.m. that day, police were pulling out protest participants blocking Entrance 2-2 one by one.

Police are stationed around the ballot counting site at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, where an on-site investigation by the National Assembly's Special Committee for the National Investigation into the shortage of ballot papers during the 9th Nationwide Local Elections and electoral reform is scheduled for the 2nd. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

The Handball Arena was used as the Songpa-gu ballot counting center during the June 3 local elections. It is understood that there are about 2.47 million ballot papers inside the Songpa-gu counting center. The ballot box and ballot papers from Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station—where voting continued until 10 p.m. due to the ballot paper shortage—are also at the Songpa-gu counting center.

Protesters opposing the ballot paper shortage have been staging a "blockade protest" around the Handball Arena since on the 5th of last month. If the special committee succeeds in entering that day, it would enter for the first time in about 27 days.

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