Protesters Continue to Surround Polling Stations in Seoul; Election Official Hospitalized

The results of South Korea's local elections held yesterday have been finalized. However, due to a dispute over insufficient ballot printing at 14 polling stations in Seoul, some stations remain surrounded by protesters. Not only have the ballot boxes not been able to be transported out, but an election official who was unable to leave has been hospitalized due to deteriorating health.

According to Yonhap News Agency, at the 2nd polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Seoul, where the ballot shortage occurred, an election official was hospitalized this evening due to deteriorating health, more than 22 hours after protesters, who claim the election was unfair, began blockading the station.

The report states that around 8:35 p.m. local time, paramedics entered the 2nd polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, located in Useong Apartment in Songpa-gu, and transported a patient presumed to be an election worker to the hospital. A fire department official said, "We received a report that someone inside the polling station was experiencing symptoms such as physical weakness, so we responded."

However, when paramedics entered the polling station, some protesters even argued that the person being taken to the hospital might be secretly taking ballots out and demanded that their bag be checked. Protesters outside the polling station have been surrounding it since around 10 p.m. last night to prevent the two ballot boxes inside from being removed.