Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, indicted on charges of having a supporter cover polling costs, received a first-instance ruling Wednesday stripping him of his mayoral post, prompting the ruling party to demand that he bear "political and legal responsibility for deceiving 10 million Seoul citizens."
Kang Jun-hyeon, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, said in a briefing immediately after the sentencing that the verdict was "the inevitable outcome of a clear-cut crime — receiving polling results from a political broker and having a supporter cover the costs."
Kang said the court found that Oh had received polling results from political broker Myung Tae-gyun ahead of the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election and arranged for businessman Kim Han-jeong to pay the costs on his behalf. "The court particularly acknowledged the likelihood that Mayor Oh commissioned the polls from Myung to promote his own strengths, and explicitly stated that the 10 million won paid by supporter Kim also constituted polling costs — meaning the amount covered by the supporter qualifies as illegal political funds," Kang said.
"The essence of this ruling is clear. The court has established that Mayor Oh used polls commissioned through a political broker in his election campaign and had a supporter pay for them," Kang said. "This is a plain violation of the Political Funds Act and an act that undermines the very electoral system that underpins democracy."
Kang added that Oh "had consistently maintained a brazen attitude right up until the sentencing, claiming that the special prosecutor and the Democratic Party were forcing a wrongful conviction — showing not a trace of remorse. But there is no room for hollow excuses in the face of the judiciary's stern ruling." He said he hoped Oh would "humbly acknowledge his wrongdoing and fulfill his political·legal responsibilities."
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