Man in his 60s faces detention hearing after assaulting police who blocked parliamentary probe team at ballot-counting site

A man in his 60s who assaulted a police officer while blocking a National Assembly special committee from entering a ballot-counting site in Jamsil faces a possible detention order.

The Seoul Eastern District Court held a pre-arrest detention hearing Friday at 3 p.m. for the man, identified only as A, on charges of obstructing the performance of official duties, according to legal sources.

A is accused of shoving and assaulting a police officer around 1:10 p.m. on Wednesday at the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, during a protest aimed at blocking an on-site inspection by the National Assembly's special parliamentary investigation committee.

The committee had been conducting the inspection to determine the cause of and response to a ballot shortage that occurred during the June 3 local elections.

Protesters, linking arms, refused to let the committee enter the counting site, chanting "You cannot enter without a warrant." Police then moved them away one by one.

Police said the action was lawful, describing it as "not a forced dispersal but a legitimate relocation measure based on the Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officers."

The Songpa Police Station applied for an arrest warrant for A, who had been arrested at the scene, on Thursday.