"Politically Motivated Investigation" Claim Rejected... Court Cites "Sufficient Motive to Request and Cover Costs"

[Anchor]

The first-instance court that sentenced Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to a 10 million won fine has ruled that Mayor Oh had sufficient motive to commission public opinion polls and that the circumstances surrounding the proxy payment of costs were confirmed. Mayor Oh claimed there were serious errors in the ruling, asserting that it will be corrected in the higher court.

Reporter Jang Hun-gyeong has the details.

[Reporter]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has consistently emphasized throughout the investigation and trial that he never commissioned public opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun nor had him cover the costs.

[Oh Se-hoon / Seoul Mayor (March) : These people are a fraud criminal group. Myung Tae-kyun is a recruiter or operative scouting targets for fraud....]

However, the court judged that there was sufficient motive for Mayor Oh, who was facing an intra-party primary at the time, to commission polls from Myung.

It noted that poll results showing rival candidate Na Kyung-won ahead were being released, and with a gender bonus system in place for the main primary, Mayor Oh had an incentive to highlight public support as his strength.

[Cho Hyung-woo / Presiding Judge, Criminal Settlement Division 22, Seoul Central District Court : His political standing was somewhat diminished. Since the main primary was decided to be conducted entirely through public opinion polls involving ordinary citizens, he would have felt a strong necessity for polls intended for public release as well....]

The court also based its guilty verdict on several factors: Mayor Oh first contacted Myung to listen to explanations on election strategies; Myung, who had been unable to conduct polls for a month due to cost issues, carried out a poll two days after meeting Mayor Oh; and sponsor Kim Han-jung wired a large sum of money to Myung despite having little personal acquaintance with him.

The court also paid attention to the fact that Mayor Oh's side and Myung had a major dispute when unfavorable poll results came out, though it concluded that five other polls could not be conclusively deemed as commissioned by Mayor Oh.

At the same time, the court pointed out regarding Mayor Oh that "the nature of the crime is grave, as he covertly concealed the act of commissioning polls and the process of paying the costs."

[Cho Hyung-woo / Presiding Judge, Criminal Settlement Division 22, Seoul Central District Court : It is inevitable to sentence the defendant to a loss of public office qualification corresponding to his criminal responsibility.]

The court stated, however, that it reflected in its sentencing factors such as the offense taking place during the intra-party primary for Seoul mayoral candidates and Mayor Oh not continuing his relationship with Myung afterward.

(Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.