Oh Se-hoon Fined 10 Million Won in 1st Trial over 'Proxy Polls'... When Is the Final Ruling?

[Anchor]

Legal affairs specialist reporter Im Chanjong is here with us.

Q. Why are the rulings different for Oh Se-hoon, Kim Keon-hee, and Yoon Suk Yeol in the Myung Tae-kyun case?

[Im Chanjong / Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter: The most important reason is that the courts reached different conclusions regarding who commissioned the opinion polls. For a politician receiving free opinion polls to constitute a violation of the Political Funds Act, it must be proven that the provided polls were commissioned by that politician. This is because if polls were provided that were never requested, the recipient politician cannot be evaluated as having gained a property benefit. In relation to this, the first trial of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's case judged that Mayor Oh commissioned opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun five times, resulting in a guilty verdict today (July 22). On the other hand, in the first and second trials of Kim Keon-hee's case, it was judged that Kim and former President Yoon did not commission the opinion polls, leading to acquittals. However, in a separately conducted first-trial proceeding for former President Yoon, a guilty verdict was handed down after the court found there was a meeting of minds regarding the opinion polls between Myung Tae-kyun and former President Yoon's side.]

Q. Kim Keon-hee's Supreme Court ruling the day after tomorrow... Impact on Oh Se-hoon and Yoon Suk Yeol trials?

[Im Chanjong / Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter: The Supreme Court ruling on Kim Keon-hee scheduled for the day after tomorrow will have a direct impact on the trial of former President Yoon Suk Yeol. This is because Kim Keon-hee and former President Yoon were indicted as accomplices, meaning their trials were only conducted separately while effectively being the same case. The problem is that the first and second-trial rulings for Kim Keon-hee and the first-trial ruling for former President Yoon contradict each other. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruling on Kim Keon-hee expected the day after tomorrow is expected to resolve this contradiction by serving as a benchmark for former President Yoon's second trial. Meanwhile, Mayor Oh Se-hoon's case shares the same premise of having received opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun as the case involving former President Yoon and his wife, but because it is a separate case with different specific factual relationships, the Supreme Court ruling in Kim Keon-hee's case is not expected to serve as a direct benchmark for this case.]

Q. When will the final ruling for the 'Oh Se-hoon case' be confirmed?

[Im Chanjong / Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter: According to the Special Prosecutor Act, the second trial must conclude within three months, and the Supreme Court must also finish its trial within three months. Therefore, the second trial must conclude within October of this year, and if the second trial uses up the full three months, the Supreme Court must hand down its ruling by January of next year. However, if the Supreme Court overturns and remands the second-trial ruling, a remand trial will take place again, meaning the final confirmation of the ruling could be delayed beyond that timeline.]

(Video Editing: Wee Won-yang)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.