About 1,000 officers deployed around 8 a.m.
Two ballot boxes secured by 8:53 a.m.
Clashes erupt as protesters dragged from entrance
The ballot boxes stranded inside Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul since the June 3 local elections were finally removed Friday. Police dispersed the protesters who had blockaded the site, claiming the vote was invalid after a ballot shortage on election day. The Woosung apartment complex in Jamsil, which had been in turmoil for more than 30 hours, returned to calm.
Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, police issued a dispersal order to the protesters. An official from the Songpa Police Station warned that assaulting police officers or election workers could result in criminal punishment, adding that the order came after the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission requested police assistance to maintain order during the ballot box transfer. When protesters refused to stand down and began singing the national anthem together, about 100 riot police quickly surrounded the senior citizens' center inside the Woosung apartment complex and entered through the back door.
Protesters lay down in front of the entrance and locked arms to form a human chain, chanting "Get out!" at the advancing officers. Police sent in groups of three or four officers to pull protesters away one by one. The chain gradually thinned, and the back door was opened around 8:52 a.m.
As police approached the senior citizens' center, protesters who had scattered nearby regrouped, shouting warnings to one another — "Police are coming!" and "Riot squad is coming!" — as officers closed in.
Police deployed more than 1,000 officers from 18 riot units to the area around Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong. The narrow apartment complex became severely congested as protesters, residents and officers crowded in. Police ultimately secured both ballot boxes and transported them to the counting center.
Around 200 protesters had maintained a round-the-clock sit-in at the polling station since the election Tuesday and were still on the scene early Friday morning. After residents' complaints intensified the previous evening, the group switched to a silent vigil — but when riot police moved in with force, they resumed loud chanting through megaphones. Emergency medical services were also called to the scene amid the physical clashes.
However, police did not arrest the protesters who had blocked their entry. "It was a relocation measure, not a detention," a police official said.
Most protesters dispersed after the ballot boxes were removed. Some, however, entered the polling station and searched the premises, saying they were looking for evidence of election fraud.
The polling station had extended voting until 10 p.m. Tuesday after running out of ballots. The National Election Commission estimated the two ballot boxes held approximately 2,000 votes.
Protesters open delivery truck to inspect cargo; demonstrators also gather outside election commission in Gwacheon
Protesters also continued demonstrations Friday outside the National Election Commission headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. Around 6:30 a.m., some 50 people claiming the June 3 local elections were fraudulent were standing guard at the main gate.
Around 8:30 a.m., when a truck attempted to enter through the front gate, about 10 protesters rushed to block it. Even after police explained that the NEC chairperson was not in the vehicle and that it was simply a delivery truck, the protesters refused to let it through until they had opened the rear doors and inspected the cargo themselves.
The confrontational behavior continued. Around 9:05 a.m., a speaker standing on a truck in front of the NEC called on the crowd to lie down in the road if any NEC vehicles tried to leave. Protesters responded with heated chants, shouting that they had "lived long enough" and were "not afraid to die."
Protesters continued to search every vehicle entering or leaving the NEC compound. They had agreed with police that only one protester at a time would inspect each vehicle, but the arrangement broke down quickly. Whenever a vehicle appeared, more than 10 protesters would swarm it. Deep suspicion ran through the crowd, with many saying they could not trust the process unless they checked for themselves.
As the fallout from the ballot shortage grew, the National Election Commission issued a statement the previous day announcing it would establish an independent fact-finding committee, led by outside experts, to investigate why some polling stations ran out of ballots on election day.
The NEC said it would first analyze voting records from the affected stations and gather firsthand accounts from polling officials and staff. "We will thoroughly examine the problems identified, their causes and the responsibilities involved, and will disclose all findings in full to the public," the commission said.
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