Ballot shortage protest, K-pop festival crowd Jamsil's Olympic Park
Thousands demanding a revote over Seoul ballot shortages surrounded a vote-counting center for a second day, disrupting access as a major K-pop festival drew huge crowds nearby.
Protesters march around the Jamsil vote-counting center at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Olympic Park in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on June 6. A K-pop festival is being held the same day at KSPO Dome and the 88 Lawn Field, next to the counting center.
NEWS1
Thousands of protesters demanding a new vote over a ballot paper shortage in the June 3 local elections have surrounded a vote-counting center at Olympic Park in southern Seoul for a second day Saturday, complicating crowd control as a major K-pop festival brings tens of thousands of fans to the area.
The protest is centered on the Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Jamsil, southern Seoul, where ballot boxes are being stored following the election in which thousands of voters in southern Seoul were forced to vote after the deadline due to a ballot shortage.
Hybe’s 2026 Weverse Con Festival is being held inside the same park at the KSPO Dome and 88 Lawn Field. Around 26,000 to 28,000 people were at Olympic Park as of 1:30 p.m., according to Seoul’s real-time city data.
Festival organizers say they had planned to use the handball arena as a wristband pickup location, but have had to cancel use of the venue due.
The protest at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium began on Friday, two days after the election finished and a few hours after police intervened to allow officials to collect and count the final two boxes of ballots which had been stuck inside a polling station blocked by protesters since Wednesday. Around 6,000 people had gathered in Olympic Park by 1 a.m. this morning, although that number fell to 500 by 7 a.m.
According to police estimates, there were 3,000 protesters as of 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
The protesters, draped in Korean flags and holding signs reading "reelection," have formed a human chain around the counting center’s eight entrances, preventing ballot boxes from being taken out while allowing police officers changing shifts to pass.
Others are sitting on mats on the lawn near the KSPO Dome and repeatedly chanting for a new vote. At lunchtime, protesters brought drinks to share and handed out gimbap. Posts on social media have asked supporters to send snacks and energy drinks.
Police have deployed around 400 riot police around the stadium, including near the main entrance, but no major physical clashes have been reported.
Many in the crowd are singing the national anthem and waving U.S. flags. Some have arrived in wheelchairs or brought children and dogs.
A 49-year-old protester surnamed Han from Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, is wearing badges reading “Yoon again” and “Stop the steal.”
“There were people who could not vote because there were no ballot papers, so of course there should be a new election,” Han said. “This is not a protest. It is a legitimate demand.”
Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the minor conservative Liberty and Innovation Party and a proponent of election fraud claims, has also joined the protest.
“Liberty and Innovation will not hold a separate rally today,” Hwang wrote on social media. “All party members will join citizens in front of the Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Jamsil.”
BY IM SOUNG-BIN [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
