[Anchor]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who faced the risk of losing his mayoral position in the first trial over allegations that his opinion poll fees were paid by another person in connection with Myung Tae-kyun, has been acquitted in his appeal trial. The court overturned the previous guilty verdict, stating that it is difficult to fully trust the core evidence, which is the testimony of Myung Tae-kyun.
Reporter Jung Hye-jin has the details.
[Reporter]
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 7 acquitted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon today (October 23), who was indicted on charges of violating the Political Funds Act.
The appellate court ruled that the independent counsel's indictment—alleging that ahead of the April 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, Mayor Oh received opinion poll results from Myung Tae-kyun a total of 10 times and had businessman Kim Han-jung pay 33 million won on his behalf—was not sufficiently proven.
While the first-trial court previously found Mayor Oh guilty on five out of the 10 opinion polls prosecuted by the independent counsel, the appellate court overturned that ruling and found all charges in the indictment not guilty.
The court noted that Myung's testimony is the sole direct evidence in this case, and its contents are hard to take at face value.
[Gu Hoe-geun, Senior Judge / Seoul High Court Criminal Division 7: There are circumstances where it is difficult to clearly distinguish between facts Myung Tae-kyun directly experienced and parts based merely on speculation or exaggeration.]
The court also concluded that the two core issues—whether Mayor Oh directly commissioned opinion polls from Myung and whether he had businessman Kim pay the poll costs on his behalf—were "not proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
[Gu Hoe-geun, Senior Judge / Seoul High Court Criminal Division 7: Proof must be established through strict evidence with a probative force that brings the judge to a conviction without leaving any room for reasonable doubt. If (the independent counsel's proof) fails to reach a sufficient level of certainty, the case must ultimately be decided in favor of the defendant.]
Mayor Oh, who had refrained from making remarks prior to the ruling,’s eyes welled up with tears as he shared his stance following the acquittal.
[Oh Se-hoon / Seoul Mayor: I sincerely thank the citizens of Seoul who voted for me to serve once again as Seoul Mayor, and I am truly grateful.]
The independent counsel team expressed strong disappointment, stating, "He was not indicted solely based on Myung's testimony, so this is a deeply disappointing ruling," and announced plans to appeal immediately.
(Video Reporter: Kim Se-kyung, Video Editor: Choi Hye-young)
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