Police Launch Investigation into 'Personal Belongings Inspection and Assault' as 20s and 30s Gather Again

[Anchor]

The blockade protest at the ballot counting center in the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Seoul has entered its eighth day. Police have launched an investigation into some of the protesters. We connect to our reporter on the scene.

Reporter Lim Ji-hyun, please start by telling us about the situation on the ground.

[Reporter]

As of 7:00 p.m. today (June 12), there are approximately 5,000 people gathered here, an increase of about 2,000 from the same time yesterday.

As it is Friday evening, we have observed a higher proportion of people in their 20s and 30s.

[Yoo Min-ji & Kim Geon-woo / Seodaemun-gu, Seoul: I came here on a date with my boyfriend, and since it seems like everyone has gathered out of a love for the country, I wanted to experience the scene myself...]

Last weekend, the 20s and 30s demographic, who had led the protests while distancing themselves from specific ideologies or political factions, had left. During the week, the protest site was dominated primarily by conspiracy theorists claiming election fraud, leading to various conflicts.

With the weekend approaching, if many participants in their 20s and 30s return to the site, it is expected that the atmosphere of the protest will change.

Amidst requests from sports organizations, which have been unable to access their workplaces due to the protesters' blockade, for the intervention of public authority, the police announced that they have launched an investigation into various illegal acts that occurred during the protests.

The police stated that they have opened an investigation into some protesters who inspected the personal belongings of the women's junior handball national team on the 8th on charges of coercion under the Criminal Act, and are currently tracking protesters suspected of assaulting and confining a journalist.

[Anchor]

I understand that conservative YouTuber Jeon Han-gil held a press conference during the day.

[Reporter]

Jeon Han-gil claimed to have found a ballot storage box that the National Election Commission had allegedly discarded, which the court failed to secure during an on-site inspection the day before yesterday.

He claimed that the box in question was from the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station, where a shortage of ballots occurred, and that it is one of the seven missing boxes.

He intends to hand it over to investigative agencies or the court to verify its authenticity. Meanwhile, the court today requested the Songpa-gu Election Commission to confirm facts regarding whether the ballot storage boxes were discarded, information related to the waste disposal company, the date of disposal, and the current storage location if they were not discarded.

(Video reporting: Kim Han-gyeol, Video editing: Kim Jin-won)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.