Seoul Olympic Park Protest Cancels 7 K-pop Events, Costs 385 Million Won and Counting

Seven performances and events at Seoul Olympic Park's handball court have been cancelled since protesters set up camp there, with one more relocated. The demonstrations hit day 25 as of June 29, 2026. They started after a ballot paper shortage during the June 3 local elections and haven't budged.

Gone: the 2026 Weverse Con Festival, the Nexon Summer Showcase, Park Seo-jin's national tour encore concert. Hundreds of protest placards now bury the ticket box at gates 2–4, the first thing fans usually see.

The Korea Sports Promotion Foundation tallies facility operation losses at 285 million won. The Songpa-gu Election Commission has racked up over 100 million won in additional rental fees because counting materials sit untouched at the venue. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent a formal request to the Central Election Commission to remove those materials and get operations back to normal. Nothing has changed.

About 200 protesters were near the handball court around 10 AM on June 29. Roughly 70% were middle-aged or older. The thermometer hit 33 degrees Celsius under a heat advisory. Around noon, someone reported an object near the venue that looked like a hand grenade. It turned out to be a practice grenade with the detonator removed.

Police are investigating 57 of 58 cases tied to the Jamsil counting center, with 139 people under investigation. Nine people have been booked for obstructing access to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee-affiliated handball court; seven identities confirmed. Five people are under investigation for illegally searching women's national handball team players' belongings on June 8. Six people total are now under investigation for assaulting journalists, after three additional bookings. Cases of insulting or obstructing police officers number 11, including one arrest warrant. Police are also investigating 286 cases of false information spreading and 43 cases of assault and other illegal acts among protest participants.

(Reporter Oh Seung-hyeok has visited the protest site 13 times since it began.)