▲ Handball players remove a cart of balls and training equipment from SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Songpa Ward, Seoul, on June 8, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ Protesters rally outside SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium, which served as a vote-counting facility for the June 3 local elections, in southeastern Seoul on June 8, 2026. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) ballot shortage-protest

(LEAD) Protest over ballot shortage in local elections continues for 4th day

(ATTN: UPDATES with latest figures, developments; RECASTS headline; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, June 8 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of protesters rallied for the fourth straight day Monday outside a vote-counting facility in Seoul, demanding a new election over ballot shortages during last week's local elections.

As of 11:35 a.m., approximately 1,600 protesters surrounded SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Songpa Ward, according to an unofficial police estimate. The number was sharply down from the 8,000 gathered around midnight Sunday but up from the 950 tallied earlier in the morning.

The protests have continued after voting was temporarily suspended at 22 polling stations nationwide Wednesday due to a lack of ballot papers, according to the National Election Commission (NEC). Protesters blocked the stadium's 10 entrances to prevent the removal of ballot boxes.

Members of a women's youth national handball team could be seen pleading with protesters outside the gymnasium to let them inside to retrieve equipment for a training session, which was moved to a nearby facility due to the blockade.

The team is scheduled to compete in the 25th IHF Women's U20 Handball World Championship in Jinzhong, China, later this month.

The protesters initially resisted their entry, demanding they prove they are handball players. The players were eventually let in, but the protesters stopped them again as they left with carts of balls and other equipment to ensure the items did not include ballot papers.

In a separate incident, a Taiwanese journalist was briefly surrounded by some 20 protesters who suspected the person was Chinese.

Protesters have demanded a rerun of the local elections, with some claiming electoral fraud.

The police have deployed around 350 personnel to the scene to prevent accidental clashes.

As part of an investigation into the ballot shortages, the police said they have secured chat room records of election officials and questioned election workers and people who were unable to cast their ballots due to the shortage.

They also separately called in a civic activist for questioning over a complaint his group filed against senior NEC officials, including its chief who offered to resign last week, for dereliction of duty over the ballot shortages.

Kim Soon-hwan, secretary general of the group, People's Welfare Countermeasure Committee, called for a thorough probe into the incident as he appeared at the Seoul Gangdong Police Station in eastern Seoul.

The police plan to look into whether the election watchdog properly followed ballot paper distribution standards.

On Sunday, President Lee Jae Myung voiced deep regret over the ballot shortages and ordered the launch of a thorough joint investigation by prosecutors and police into the incident.

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