A woman in her 30s, called "Oldarc" among some protesters after she single-handedly blocked entry to the Seoul Olympic Park Handball Arena, which served as the ballot counting site for the 9th nationwide local elections (the June 3 local elections), was questioned by police.
The Songpa Police Station in Seoul summoned the woman at 4 p.m. on the 10th as a suspect on charges including obstruction of business and questioned her. It came about three weeks after launching the investigation on the 17th of last month.
Before appearing, she met with reporters and said, "I thought a decision by the court or the National Election Commission to preserve evidence should come first," and added, "If verification proceeds without following principles and procedures, would any conclusion after that be convincing?"
She went on, "On the day I guarded the gate, I was ready to willingly pay the price if a price was needed to defend liberal democracy."
She is suspected of blocking officials of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) from entering their offices at the protest site on the 16th of last month. Even though opposition party lawmakers had worked out a mediation plan between protesters and sports organizations at the time, the woman, draped in a U.S. flag, grabbed the door handle and blocked officials from entering for about two hours.
Since the incident, some protesters have been calling her "Oldarc," a portmanteau of Olympic Park and Joan of Arc.
On the 2nd, when the National Assembly's special committee for a parliamentary probe into the shortage of ballot papers in the June 3 local elections visited the Handball Arena, she also blocked the entrance to Gate 2-1. Commissioners on the special committee used an alternate route secured by police to enter the site.