A woman in her 30s suspected of obstruction of business arrives at Songpa Police Station in Seoul on Friday to be questioned. She is accused of blocking sports organization staff from entering the Olympic Park handball arena, which served as a vote-counting venue for the June 3 local elections. [Yonhap]
A woman in her 30s suspected of obstruction of business arrives at Songpa Police Station in Seoul on Friday to be questioned. She is accused of blocking sports organization staff from entering the Olympic Park handball arena, which served as a vote-counting venue for the June 3 local elections. [Yonhap]

Police have applied for an arrest warrant for a woman who blocked sports organizations affiliated with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee from entering a vote-counting venue at Olympic Park last month.

Songpa Police Station said Thursday it had applied for a pre-arrest warrant for the woman, identified only as A, on charges of obstruction of business.

A is accused of single-handedly holding a door shut for about two hours on June 16, preventing sports organization staff from entering the handball arena after protesters and People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok had reached an agreement allowing the organizations inside.

Jang and Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Yoo Seung-min tried to persuade her to stand down, but A refused, insisting that procedures to preserve ballots and ballot boxes inside the venue had to be completed first.

Hard-line conservative online communities celebrated the woman, dubbing her "Oldarc" — a portmanteau of "Olympic Park" and "Joan of Arc."

Police launched an investigation into the incident on June 17 and summoned A as a suspect for questioning on Friday.

Police also applied for an arrest warrant for one man in his 30s among five suspects accused of illegally searching the junior women's national handball team, which had entered the handball arena on June 8, on charges of special coercion.

Three other suspects accused of breaking into the arena's mechanical room and damaging the door on June 7 — on charges of trespassing and destruction of public property — were referred to prosecutors without detention.

"We will conduct a strict investigation into illegal acts at the Olympic Park vote-counting venue in accordance with the law and principles," police said.


husn7@heraldcorp.com