(2nd LD) Police secure ballot boxes from Seoul polling station after dispersing protesters

SEOUL, June 5 (Yonhap) -- Police on Friday secured remaining ballot boxes at a polling station in southern Seoul, two days after protesters gathered to prevent election officials from removing them in protest of a shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections.

Police officials broke through a crowd of protesters to remove the two ballot boxes at the polling station in Jamsil, Songpa Ward, after deploying around 1,000 officers to the scene earlier in the day to break up the rally.

The boxes, said to contain around 2,000 ballots, were transported to a ballot counting center at nearby Olympic Park.

Authorities said multiple people suffered minor injuries at the polling station and the vote counting center, where protesters also gathered to demand election officials to stop the count.

Officials remove ballot boxes from a polling station in southern Seoul on June 5, 2026, after breaking up protesters who had gathered in protest of a shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections. (Yonhap)

The polling station was one of over a dozen locations in Seoul that experienced ballot shortages Wednesday, prompting the temporary suspension of voting at the affected stations.

Angry protesters gathered at the Jamsil polling station, accusing the election watchdog of having committed election fraud and blocking election officials from removing the ballot boxes.

The standoff had prevented the National Election Commission from completing vote counting and officially declaring election winners in the affected areas.

A group of protesters attempted to block the police from entering the polling station, resulting in physical clashes as officers dragged them out. Some protesters claimed the police used excessive force.

Fire authorities said they had treated six people for minor injuries at the polling station and the vote counting center since Thursday night.

Three of them, including a woman in her 40s who complained of a headache, were sent to the hospital.

Jang Dong-hyeok (3rd from R), leader of the main opposition People Power Party, and others are locked in a standoff with police officers at a vote counting center in southern Seoul on June 5, 2026. (Yonhap)