Actor Park Bo-young poses on the red carpet at the 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on May 8. [Yonhap]
Actor Park Bo-young poses on the red carpet at the 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on May 8. [Yonhap]

Actor Park Bo-young has spoken out for the first time after facing pressure to take a public stance, amid ongoing protests at a ballot-counting site in Jamsil that began over a shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections.

Park addressed the wave of hostile comments targeting her through Bubble, a fan messaging platform, on Sunday. "I found out through Bubble. Weird people. So don't worry — it's not much of a blow," she wrote.

Protests have continued for a third consecutive day near the handball arena at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, where demonstrators have blockaded a ballot-counting center following the ballot shortage that marred the June 3 local elections. Comment sections on the social media accounts of several celebrities — including IU, Park Bo-young and Jo In-sung — have been flooded with demands that they make public statements or prepay food and drinks for protesters.

Many of those targeted are celebrities who had sent messages of support or donated to participants during rallies calling for emergency martial law to be lifted and for the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

IU's Instagram account drew comments such as "Please send Starbucks coffee to the patriotic citizens in Jamsil" and "Citizens are demanding their basic rights in Jamsil — will you prepay for them this time too?"

IU had drawn wide attention in December 2024 after prepaying beverages and bread for fans attending rallies calling for Yoon's impeachment following the emergency martial law declaration on Dec. 3 of that year.

Park Bo-young faced similar attacks, with commenters writing things like, "You spoke up during the martial law crisis — why are you silent now?" and "Please prepay near Olympic Park in Jamsil. Can't you do that much for citizens working hard to defend democracy?"

At the time of the martial law crisis, Park had sent fans a message of encouragement, writing: "Have a safe day today. It's cold, so bundle up before you go out. I hope warm spring comes soon."

Meanwhile, as of noon Sunday, at least 12,000 people were present at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, where protesters demanding a rerun of the election have gathered, with those in their 20s and 30s accounting for 40 percent of the crowd. Demonstrators assembled at each of the eight entrances to the counting center to monitor whether ballot boxes were being removed and chanted slogans calling for a new election.


bbo@heraldcorp.com