Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Sentenced to Loss of Office in 1st Trial over Myung Tae-kyun Poll Fee Allegations, to Face Appeal Trial on August 21

The appeal trial for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was sentenced in the first trial to a penalty that would strip him of his mayoral position over allegations that political broker Myung Tae-kyun paid for opinion polls on his behalf, is set to begin on the 21st.

The 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Gu Hoe-keun) is scheduled to hold the first appeal trial for Mayor Oh, who was indicted on charges of violating the Political Funds Act, at 2:00 PM on the 21st.

Businessman Kim Han-jung and Kang Chul-won, former Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, will also stand trial on the same charges.

Ahead of the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021, Mayor Oh was indicted without detention last December on charges of receiving opinion poll results 10 times from political broker Myung Tae-kyun and having businessman Kim, known as his long-time supporter, pay 33 million won for the costs on his behalf.

In the first trial on July 22, the court sentenced Mayor Oh to a fine of 10 million won and ordered the forfeiture of 21 million won.

Under the Political Funds Act, if a fine of 1 million won or more is finalized for the illegal receipt of political funds, the individual is barred from taking public office or being appointed to one for five years.

Those who have already taken or been appointed to office must step down.

The first court ruled that out of the 10 opinion polls specified in the indictment, Mayor Oh commissioned Myung to conduct five of them (three unreleased and two published), and had Kim cover 21 million won of the costs.

However, the court found it difficult to conclude that Mayor Oh commissioned the remaining five surveys or that Kim paid for them on his behalf.

In the first trial, former Deputy Mayor Kang was fined 3 million won, and businessman Kim was fined 5 million won.

All defendants, including Mayor Oh, and the independent counsel team led by Min Joong-ki appealed the first-instance verdict.

(Photo: Joint Press Corps, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.