Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Acquitted in Appeal Over 'Political Funds Act' Violations... "Myung Tae-kyun's Testimony Unreliable"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was indicted on allegations of having Myung Tae-kyun cover the costs of political opinion polls, has been acquitted in his appeal.

The appellate court overturned the guilty verdict from the first trial, stating that it is difficult to fully trust the testimony of Myung Tae-kyun, which served as the core evidence.

The 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Gu Hoe-keun) acquitted Mayor Oh, who was on trial for violating the Political Funds Act, today (October 23).

Kang Cheol-won, former political affairs deputy mayor of Seoul and an aide to Mayor Oh, and Kim Han-jung, a financial supporter, who were indicted alongside him, were also acquitted.

The first trial had sentenced Mayor Oh to a fine of 10 million won and an additional collection of 21 million won.

The special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki had demanded a prison sentence of one year and six months and an additional collection of 33 million won during the appeal.

The appellate court judged that it was not sufficiently proven that Mayor Oh had received opinion poll results a total of 10 times from Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021 and had businessman Kim, known as his long-time supporter, pay 33 million won in costs on his behalf.

The court determined that Myung Tae-kyun's testimony was the sole direct evidence regarding the core issue of this case, but its contents were difficult to believe as they stood.

The court cited several grounds: ▲ it was difficult to clearly distinguish between directly experienced facts and speculation or exaggeration in Myung's testimony; ▲ regarding unfavorable situations, he only gave peripheral explanations or stated that he could not remember; and ▲ he tended to reinterpret his previous testimony in a direction favorable to himself.

It also pointed out that there were numerous parts in Myung's testimony that conflicted with objectively revealed circumstances or the testimonies of surrounding individuals.

Furthermore, the court noted, "During the initial investigation into the Political Funds Act violations regarding Kim Young-sun and others, Myung Tae-kyun did not testify about suspicions related to Oh Se-hoon, but began testifying about Oh Se-hoon's political fund-related suspicions in earnest around December 2024, when Oh Se-hoon announced plans to file a complaint against Myung." It added, "Around that time, he even made threatening remarks publicly to the effect of 'watch how I frame Oh Se-hoon.'"

The court also highlighted that Myung appeared to have soured relations with Mayor Oh's side after February 2021 and seemed to harbor resentment, believing his contributions were not recognized after Mayor Oh was elected, as reasons for finding his testimony untrustworthy.

Previously, the first trial also pointed out that it was difficult to recognize the credibility of Myung's testimony.

However, it had judged that some contents could be deemed credible considering the KakaoTalk chat logs, news reports, and opinion poll sharing history from that time.

In contrast, the appellate court noted that there were insufficient grounds to trust only parts of the testimony, and other evidence to reinforce them was not adequately presented.

The court explained, "Ultimately, it has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Oh Se-hoon requested specific opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun as stated in the indictment and attempted to pay money in return."

The court emphasized, "If the prosecutor's proof is not sufficient to instill certainty, even if the defendant's arguments or excuses appear somewhat suspicious and raise doubts of guilt, the judgment must ultimately be made in favor of the defendant," adding, "This is a long-standing fundamental principle of criminal law aimed at preventing unjustly punished individuals through investigation and prosecution."

Depending on the sentencing result, Mayor Oh could have lost his mayoral position, but the acquittal has given him a reprieve.

According to Article 57 of the Political Funds Act, anyone sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more for the crime of illegal acceptance of political funds is barred from holding or being appointed to public office for five years after the sentence is finalized.

Those already holding or appointed to office must step down.

Therefore, if the 10 million won fine from the first trial had been finalized as is, Mayor Oh would have lost his position and been unable to run in the next presidential election.

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