The doors of the Handball Arena at Olympic Park in Seoul have reopened after being closed for 95 days. During this period, the national team's equipment retrieval, sports administration, and event schedules faced significant disruptions.
On the morning of September 8, officials from nine member sports organizations under the Korea Sports Council entered the Handball Arena with police support. Investigators from the special prosecutor's office, looking into allegations related to the June 3 local elections, first secured the area where the ballot boxes were stored before allowing sports officials to access their offices and retrieve work materials.
The Handball Arena houses offices for nine sports organizations, including handball, fencing, mountaineering, wushu, sepak takraw, underwater fin swimming, billiards, dance sports, and water skiing. These organizations have been operating from temporary spaces since early June due to restricted access.
Inside the offices were work computers, administrative documents, accounting and contract materials, as well as competition equipment and gear related to national team training and participation. The prolonged access restrictions had disrupted administrative tasks, competition operations, and support for national athletes.
With the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games set to begin on September 19, the pressure has increased. Among the nine organizations based in the Handball Arena, six, including fencing and handball, will compete in the upcoming event. The fencing team, for instance, had to borrow equipment for international competitions because they could not access their swords and protective gear stored in their office, while other sports also faced challenges in preparing for international events and managing administrative tasks.
The impact of the prolonged closure extended beyond the sports community. Performances and events scheduled at the Handball Arena were also canceled or relocated.
According to data submitted by the Korea Sports Industry Development to the National Assembly, 15 events planned at the Handball Arena from June 6 to September 27 were either canceled or moved. Refunds totaling approximately 1.07 billion won were issued for 13 of these events.
Among the canceled events were the 2026 Weverse Con Festival, Park Seo-jin's national tour encore concert, Yunho's concert, Seventeen's Dino fan concert, and Jay Park's concert.
Sports organizations had previously attempted to gain access to the arena multiple times without success. On June 16, they tried to negotiate with some protesters to retrieve necessary items, but access was blocked, leading to the failure of that attempt. After ongoing discussions about access, the Korea Sports Council sent a cooperation request to the police on September 4, which facilitated the entry on this day.
On this day, the public safety chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police led the operation, deploying riot police to the scene. The police stated they would maintain preservation measures for the location where the ballots were stored while supporting the retrieval of items by the sports organizations.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.