Police applied for an arrest warrant for a woman in her 30s who blocked entry by sports bodies under the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) at the Seoul Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium, which served as a ballot-counting center for the 9th nationwide local elections (June 3 local elections).
Seoul Songpa Police Station said on the 16th that it sought a pre-arrest warrant for a woman, A, on suspicion of obstruction of business.
A is accused of blocking KSOC officials from entering their offices at a protest site on the 16th of last month. Although opposition party lawmakers had drawn up a mediation plan between the protesters and the 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.
At the time, People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok and KSOC President Ryu Seung-min, among others, tried to persuade A, but A blocked entry, arguing that preservation procedures for the ballots and ballot boxes inside had to come first.
After the incident, some protesters have been calling the person "Oldarc," a portmanteau of Olympic Park and Joan of Arc. Police launched an investigation on the 17th of last month and questioned A as a suspect on the 10th of this month.
Police also sought an arrest warrant for a man in his 30s, one of five suspects accused of illegally searching the women's junior national handball team that entered the Handball Gymnasium on the 8th of last month (special coercion).
In addition, three suspects accused of damaging the machine room door of the Handball Gymnasium and trespassing without permission on the 7th of last month (trespass into a structure and damage to public property) were sent to prosecutors without detention.
Police said they plan to conduct a strict investigation into illegal acts at the Olympic Park ballot-counting center in accordance with the law and principles.