Appeals Court Ruling on Seoul Mayor's Political Career to Be Broadcast Live Today

[Anchor]

The appellate court ruling for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was indicted over allegations that his opinion poll costs were paid by a third party in connection with Myung Tae-kyun, will be broadcast live this afternoon (October 23). If the sentence he received in the first trial is upheld by the Supreme Court, Mayor Oh will lose his mayoral position and be barred from running in the next presidential election.

Reporter Jang Hun-gyeong has the details.

[Reporter]

The appellate sentencing hearing for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon regarding the "Myung Tae-kyun opinion poll cost proxy payment allegations" will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Seoul High Court.

Unlike the first trial, today's hearing is scheduled to be broadcast live in real time.

Mayor Oh was indicted on charges of commissioning opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the April 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election and having a supporter, Kim Han-jung, cover the costs instead.

In the first trial, the court found that Mayor Oh commissioned five out of ten opinion polls and that Kim paid 21 million won on his behalf, sentencing him to a fine of 10 million won and an additional forfeiture of 21 million won.

The core issue in the appeal is a phone recording between Myung and Kim from March 2021, which Kim submitted belatedly.

In the recording, Kim can be heard saying, "I did it because I wanted to help, and it wasn't what Mayor Oh wanted," to which Myung replies to the effect that "Mayor Oh doesn't know much about it either."

Based on this, Mayor Oh's legal team argued for his innocence, claiming the true nature of the case is that Kim commissioned the polls and paid for them without Mayor Oh's knowledge.

[Oh Se-hoon / Seoul Mayor (October 2) : The truth always comes to light. Please watch.]

On the other hand, the special counsel countered that "this is selective evidence where Kim belatedly picked out only the recordings favorable to Mayor Oh," and demanded a prison sentence of one year and six months along with a forfeiture of 33 million won, the same as in the first trial.

Myung also submitted a statement to the court, arguing that his past remarks stating Mayor Oh "did not know" referred to the unification strategy rather than the opinion polls.

If a fine of 1 million won or higher for a violation of the Political Funds Act is finalized by the Supreme Court, Mayor Oh will lose his mayoral post and become ineligible to run in the next presidential election.

Video by Kim Ho-jin
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.