Prosecutors Seek 18-Month Prison Sentence for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Over 'Illegal Campaign Funding' Allegations

[Anchor]

The special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki has requested a one-year-and-six-month prison sentence for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in connection with allegations involving the payment of public opinion poll costs by Myung Tae-kyun. The outcome of the trial could potentially impact his term as mayor. Mayor Oh has strongly pushed back, labeling the indictment as a politically motivated "ordered prosecution."

Reporter Jung Hye-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

The special counsel team has demanded a one-year-and-six-month prison sentence and a forfeiture of 33 million won for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon regarding allegations that public opinion poll costs were covered by a third party.

The prosecution also requested one-year prison sentences for Kang Cheol-won, former Vice Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, and a businessman surnamed Kim, who is accused of paying the poll costs on behalf of the mayor.

Mayor Oh was indicted last December on charges of receiving results from 10 public opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the Seoul mayoral by-election in April 2021 and having the businessman, Kim, pay 33 million won for those services.

The special counsel team stated that the reason for the sentencing demand was that "Mayor Oh undermined the legislative purpose of ensuring the transparency of political funds."

Mayor Oh strongly criticized the special counsel team, calling it an "ordered special investigation" launched for political purposes, and denied all charges related to the payment of the poll costs.

[Oh Se-hoon/Mayor of Seoul: This was an ordered prosecution specifically planned to align with the local election schedule. Therefore, the sentencing demand expected today is nothing more than another 'ordered' demand.]

Mayor Oh also acknowledged meeting Myung a few times but claimed that he had judged Myung to be "incompetent" to provide any help to his campaign.

He added that "the essence of this case is fraud and extortion," asserting that "Myung deceived the businessman, Kim, by using fabricated public opinion polls."

Earlier, when asked by reporters before entering the court whether he would file a complaint against the special counsel for "distorting the law," Mayor Oh replied, "I will decide after seeing the court's verdict."

(Reported by Yang Hyun-chul | Video by Kim Jin-won)

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※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.