Revelations, Investigations, and Legal Battles: The Path to 'Acquittal on Appeal'

[Anchor]

The case involving allegations of third-party payment for opinion polls concerning Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon began two years ago with revelations by Myung Tae-kyun, escalated into investigations by prosecutors and a special counsel, and led to a legal battle in court.

Reporter Jeon Yeonnam walks us through the process leading up to the appellate court's verdict of acquittal.

[Reporter]

In October 2024, Myung Tae-kyun claimed that he played a major role in getting then-candidate Oh Se-hoon elected during the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election.

He alleged that Mayor Oh came to him seeking opinion polls needed to defeat rival candidate Na Kyung-won, and that Oh had a sponsor cover the polling costs on his behalf.

Mayor Oh completely denied the allegations, calling them "groundless nonsense," but prosecutors launched an investigation.

[Myung Tae-kyun (April of last year): (Did you ever report the poll results directly to Mayor Oh Se-hoon?) Of course.]

In November of last year, the special counsel team investigating First Lady Kim Keon-hee took over the case and even conducted a face-to-face cross-examination between Mayor Oh and Myung.

[Oh Se-hoon / Mayor of Seoul (November of last year): As I have maintained all along, there was no proxy payment, and that was the primary point I emphasized. Neither side narrowed the gap between our claims.]

The special counsel team subsequently indicted Mayor Oh, but the court of first instance found him guilty of only part of the charges and sentenced him to a fine of 10 million won.

Facing the loss of his mayoral post if the sentence were finalized, Mayor Oh immediately appealed. The appellate court acquitted him, ruling that the allegations regarding the opinion polls and proxy payments were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Oh Se-hoon / Mayor of Seoul: I would like to express my truly sincere, heartfelt gratitude to the citizens of Seoul who voted for me so that Oh Se-hoon could serve as mayor of Seoul once again.]

Immediately following the ruling, the Seoul Metropolitan Government issued a statement saying it would move forward even more vigorously with the key policy initiatives of Mayor Oh's ninth popularly elected administration.

Video by Yang Hyun-chul | Video Editing by Lee So-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.