Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was indicted over allegations that Myung Tae-kyun covered his opinion poll costs, was acquitted in his second trial today (the 23rd).

The guilty verdict from the first trial has been overturned.

Presiding Judge Koo Hoi-keun of Criminal Division 7 at the Seoul High Court acquitted Mayor Oh, who had been put on trial on charges of violating the Political Funds Act.

Kang Chul-won, former Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul and an aide to Mayor Oh who was indicted alongside him, as well as his supporter Kim Han-jung, were also acquitted.

The first trial had sentenced Mayor Oh to a fine of 10 million won and an additional collection of 21 million won.

The special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki had sought a sentence of 1 year and 6 months in prison and a 33 million won collection in the second trial.

The second trial ruled that it was not sufficiently proven that Mayor Oh received opinion poll results a total of 10 times from Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021 and had businessman Kim, known as his longtime supporter, pay 33 million won in costs on his behalf.

The court pointed out that Myung Tae-kyun's statement is the sole direct evidence regarding the core issue of this case.

Consequently, it determined that considering the comprehensive concrete factual relations related to this case, it is difficult to entirely credit Myung's testimony as it is.

Furthermore, stating that it is difficult to see that there are sufficient grounds to trust only parts of Myung Tae-kyun's testimony or that other evidence reinforcing that testimony has been sufficiently presented, the court noted that the charges were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Previously, the first trial had judged parts of Myung's testimony to be credible and cited them as the basis for a guilty verdict.

The 10 million won fine sentenced by the first trial corresponds to a sentence resulting in the loss of the mayoral position.

According to Article 57 of the Political Funds Act, if someone is sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more for the crime of illegal political fund acceptance, they cannot take office or be appointed to a public post for five years after the sentence is finalized.

If they have already taken office or been appointed, they must step down.

Therefore, had the sentence from the first trial been finalized as is, Mayor Oh would have lost his position and been unable to run in the next presidential election.

(Photo: Yonhap News)