Songpa Police Station Chief Resigns Amid Blockade Protest at Jamsil Counting Center

As protests continue in the area around Olympic Park in Jamsil, Seoul, condemning the shortage of ballots in the June 3 local election, Songpa Police Station Chief Oh Sangtaek, who was in charge of onsite security, has expressed his intention to resign. The National Police Agency said on the 9th that Chief Oh had applied for dismissal, saying it was difficult to direct operations at the scene due to worsening of a chronic illness. Accordingly, the deputy chief of public safety at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has been designated as the onsite operations commander and will take charge of directing the response. While maintaining an acting chief system at Songpa Police Station for the time being, the police plan to increase the number of dialogue police officers and have the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency leadership directly manage the site to strengthen its response to the protests. Since the 5th, the protesters have been blocking the entrance to the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium, which was used as a votecounting center, and demanding a rerun of the election.