Seoul police chief warns Jamsil protesters: Joining illegal acts could 'ruin your life'

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Park Jeong-bo has signaled a tough crackdown on illegal acts by protesters gathered at the Jamsil vote-counting site, after demonstrators were found to have searched the belongings of ordinary citizens without consent amid a dispute over a ballot shortage.

At a regular press briefing Monday, Park cited an incident in which protesters searched the bags of members of a youth women's national handball team. Police applied aggravated coercion charges rather than ordinary coercion because the suspects "displayed force in numbers," he said, noting the charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

"The sentence is very heavy," Park said. "If someone thoughtlessly goes along with illegal acts and is charged as an accomplice, it could ruin their life."

The police chief's unusually blunt language and explicit mention of criminal punishment appear to reflect a judgment that the illegal conduct of some Jamsil protesters has crossed the line.

President Lee Jae-myung also weighed in Sunday, raising the issue at a senior staff meeting held during his European tour. "Shouldn't we respond firmly to unauthorized checkpoints and obstruction of business through the use of force?" he said.

The Seoul Songpa Police Station has identified three people who actively participated in the bag searches of the youth national team members and has summoned one of them for questioning.

Police are currently conducting 15 separate investigations stemming from the protests, covering the bag searches, assaults on journalists, insults directed at officers on the scene and physical altercations among participants.

"Assaulting journalists is absolutely unacceptable. We are applying false imprisonment charges," Park said, adding that police have identified three active suspects in that case and are tracking them down.

"Korean police are second to none when it comes to identifying and arresting individuals — we can do it whenever we set our minds to it," he said. "Those who took part in the insults will be apprehended soon."

Park also signaled that obstruction-of-business charges could be applied over the blockade of the handball arena — which serves as a vote-counting center — that has prevented sports organizations under the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee from accessing their offices there for 10 days.

"This is clearly illegal conduct and we are gathering evidence," Park said, adding that he would watch the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee's press conference that afternoon before deciding on next steps.

He said police had so far pulled back from the site to avoid clashes with protesters, but stressed: "What is clear is that if obstruction of business is confirmed as an illegal act, we will deal with it strictly. Legal action will follow after the fact."

However, Park said police view the gathering as "a public forum where citizens who believe their voting rights have been violated have come together voluntarily to express their views," adding that "peaceful expression of opinion is a constitutional right of the people, and we are actively protecting it."

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it had received a total of 306 emergency calls related to ballot shortages and disturbances from election day of the June 3 local elections through Monday.

Of those, 145 calls came in during polling hours — from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on election day — including 15 specifically related to ballot shortages. The first such call was logged at 4:10 p.m.

“전쟁 끝 빚투 더 과열?” 은행권 큰 숙제, 신용대출 세게 조인다 [머니뭐니]

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