Oh Se-hoon's Appeal Submits 'Myung Tae-kyun Call Recording'... Will It Affect the Verdict?

Evidence favorable to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been submitted to the appeals court handling his case regarding allegations that his opinion poll costs were covertly paid by a third party.

The submitted evidence consists of a telephone conversation recording file between businessman Kim Han-jung, who was identified as the payer, and Myung Tae-kyun. The recording reportedly contains circumstances suggesting that Mayor Oh did not commission opinion polls from Myung.

The court plans to decide whether to officially admit and use this evidence during the trial on the 16th.

According to legal circles on today (the 15th), Kim's legal representatives recently submitted the recorded file of conversations between Kim and Myung to Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Gu Hoe-geun), which is handling the appeal trial for Mayor Oh's alleged violation of the Political Funds Act.

The recorded phone calls took place on March 6 and March 13, 2021, ahead of the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, after Oh was selected as the People Power Party candidate and was pursuing a unification candidacy with then-People's Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.

According to the recording, Kim tells Myung, "You said, 'I'll make the percentages [approval ratings] look good,' so I listened to what you said and did it, but the result didn't turn out that way."

This implies that although Myung stated he would conduct opinion polls to make Mayor Oh's approval ratings appear high, the actual results were different.

Kim also remarks, "I worked because I wanted to help this gentleman," and "It wasn't because he wanted it or requested it; I just did it on my own."

Combined, these statements suggest that Kim commissioned the opinion polls himself, relying on Myung's words.

This contradicts the indictment's premise that Mayor Oh commissioned opinion polls from Myung and had Kim pay the costs on his behalf.

The recording file also includes Myung stating, "Since I didn't know the relationship between older brother [Kim] and Mayor Oh well," "Mayor Oh didn't directly introduce [Kim] to me," and "Regardless of Mayor Oh, it was between you and me, and you helped out like that."

This differs from Myung's statements to investigative agencies that Mayor Oh introduced Kim as the person who would "provide the funds."

Based on this recording file, Kim's side is arguing that the charges cannot stand from the very premise of the indictment.

Mayor Oh was indicted without detention in December of last year on charges of receiving opinion poll results from Myung 10 times ahead of the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021 and having his longtime supporter Kim cover 33 million won in costs instead.

The first-instance court recognized that Mayor Oh commissioned five opinion polls from Myung and had Kim pay 21 million won on his behalf, sentencing Mayor Oh to a fine of 10 million won and ordering a forfeiture of 21 million won.

If a fine of 1 million won or more for illegal political fund acceptance is finalized, the individual is barred from holding or being appointed to public office for five years.

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

Kang Cheol-won, a former senior presidential secretary for political affairs under the Seoul Metropolitan Government and an associate of Mayor Oh who was indicted together, was sentenced to a fine of 3 million won, while Kim was sentenced to a fine of 5 million won.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.