1 of 3 | A crowd gathers outside Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Seoul’s Songpa District on Sunday to protest the election dispute, with participants waving South Korean flags and holding signs calling for a revote. Photo by Ju Byeong-gwan
June 7 (Asia Today) -- Protesters continued to gather through the weekend outside a vote-counting site in southern Seoul, demanding a new election after a ballot shortage disrupted voting during South Korea's June 3 local elections.
The protest outside the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Seoul's Songpa District entered its third day Sunday after demonstrators moved there from a polling station in Jamsil 7-dong on Friday. Protesters have been blocking the removal of ballot boxes and vote-counting equipment from the site.
At about 10 a.m. Sunday, the area around the gymnasium remained crowded with protesters, though the number was visibly lower than the unofficial police estimate of about 30,000 people Saturday night. People continued arriving at Olympic Park Station on Seoul subway lines 5 and 9 throughout the morning.
"I could not come on weekdays, but I have been staying here since yesterday," said Kim Ji-hyun, 22, a university student. "This protest is a voluntary citizens' movement gathered solely to condemn the violation of voting rights."
