Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Found Guilty of Election Law Violation, Faces Loss of Office

A Seoul court has found Mayor Oh Se-hoon guilty of violating the Political Funds Act, imposing a fine of 10 million won and potentially leading to his removal from office. The court determined that Oh directly commissioned opinion polls from a political broker named Myung Tae-gyun and arranged for his supporter to cover the associated costs.

The case stems from Oh's preparation for the Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021. The court found that Oh met with Myung twice and received direct explanations about the opinion polls. This, along with the resumption of activities by the Korea Research Institute for Future Studies, which had suspended operations due to funding issues, shortly after the meetings, led the court to conclude that Oh had directly commissioned the polls.

Of the 10 opinion polls investigated by the special prosecutor, the court deemed five to be illegal. This included three non-public polls commissioned by Oh, where a supporter, Kim Han-jung, paid 10 million won to Myung. Kim claimed the payment was a friendly gesture, but the court rejected this, noting Kim's first meeting with Myung occurred after the payment. The court also found that Oh's team had pointed out issues leading to a revision in the sample size for one poll, and that the results of another poll, unfavorable to Oh, were delayed in public release until February 15, suggesting an effort to minimize its impact.

Despite acknowledging that the opinion polls might not have significantly influenced the party primary due to unfavorable results, the court stated the offense was serious, necessitating a penalty that could result in the loss of public office. Under the special prosecutor law related to Kim Keon-hee, appeals and final judgments in such cases are expected within three months of the previous ruling. This expedited process means a final decision on Oh's mayoral tenure could be reached as early as January.

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The quality of the crime is bad, and it is necessary to impose a penalty that leads to the loss of public office.