[Anchor]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is accused of commissioning opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun and having him cover the costs, attended the first hearing of his appeal yesterday, the 21st. If the 10 million won fine sentenced in the first trial is finalized, he will lose his mayoral position, with a ruling on the appeal expected in two months.
Reporter Jang Hun-gyeong has the details.
[Reporter]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attended the first appellate trial regarding the case involving the proxy payment of Myung Tae-kyun's opinion poll costs.
[Oh Se-hoon / Mayor of Seoul: We will uncover the substantial truth and prove my innocence.]
Maintaining that he never commissioned opinion polls from Myung and pleading not guilty during yesterday's trial, Mayor Oh has launched an all-out defense, as a finalization of the 10 million won fine from the first trial would strip him of his office.
In addition to his existing nine attorneys, he has newly appointed eight lawyers from a major law firm and revised his defense strategy.
While the first trial focused on arguing the unfairness of the investigation by claiming it was a politically motivated indictment by the special counsel, the second trial plans to focus on the legal debate regarding the core charge of the proxy payment for opinion polls.
Previously, in an appeal brief exceeding 200 pages submitted to the court, Mayor Oh's legal team argued that evidence was lacking and the judgment contradictory, pointing out that the first-trial ruling failed to specify when or how Mayor Oh requested his supporter Kim Han-jung to cover the opinion poll costs.
Meanwhile, the special counsel fired back, arguing that out of the total 10 opinion polls, the five ruled not guilty in the first trial should also be recognized as crimes, and that the sentence was too light, demanding a prison term of one year and six months, matching the sentence sought in the first trial.
The court accepted six witnesses, including former People Power Party Emergency Response Committee Chairman Kim Chong-in, and stated that the ruling is expected to be handed down around October 23.
The same court also held the first appellate hearing in the morning for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sentenced to two years in prison in the first trial on charges of receiving free opinion polls from Myung in collusion with First Lady Kim Keon-hee, stating that arguments in that case will close on the 11th of next month.
(Video Editing: Shin Se-eun)
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