Ruling party welcomes Oh Se-hoon acquittal, opposition calls ruling 'incomprehensible'

Reactions from South Korea's ruling and opposition parties diverged sharply Friday after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was acquitted on appeal in a political funds case. The People Power Party hailed the verdict as justice served, while the Democratic Party of Korea condemned it as a ruling that defied public common sense.

Shortly after the acquittal was announced, PPP chief spokesperson Park Chung-kwon issued a statement saying the verdict showed that "truth, however late it arrives, always finds its rightful place."

Park said the indictment had been "biased from the start, relying solely on the testimony of a few individuals with no direct evidence," and described the case as the product of a targeted investigation launched in a dragnet fashion.

He added that the special prosecutor "must deeply reflect on having shaken Seoul city governance and unsettled citizens through reckless prosecution," and called on the office to "humbly accept this ruling and stop wasting taxpayer money on politically motivated indictments and trials."

Park welcomed the outcome, saying it was "an immensely fortunate and entirely natural development that Mayor Oh Se-hoon's administration — entrusted by 10 million Seoul citizens through the ballot — can continue without disruption."

PPP floor spokesperson Choi Su-jin also issued a statement Friday, calling the ruling "a triumph of common sense over the ruling party's brazen attempts to intimidate judges."

Choi directed sharp criticism at the Democratic Party, urging it to "prostrate itself before the people and beg forgiveness for the constitutional transgression of fabricating charges against an opposition local government head and abusing the authority of standing committee chairs to interfere in the trial."

Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do expressed regret over the ruling, saying he was "disappointed that the appeals court overturned the guilty verdict handed down at the first trial" in the case involving allegations that polling costs were paid on Oh's behalf. He called it "a ruling that does not meet the common sense and standards of the public."

Han said "concrete evidence sufficient to prove guilt had been presented during the special prosecutor's investigation and trial," noting that the first-instance court had weighed that evidence and sentenced Oh to a 10 million won ($7,550) fine — a penalty that would have stripped him of his mayoral post.

He said the appeals court "overturned all existing legal principles and granted Oh a clean slate by accepting only the one-sided arguments of his side," adding that "it is difficult to comprehend how a verdict diametrically opposed to the first-instance ruling could be reached despite clear evidence and testimony."

Han called the case "a grave matter that undermines the fairness and neutrality of elections, which are the foundation of democracy," and demanded that the special prosecutor "immediately appeal to correct the appeals court's misapplication of the law."

Cho Kuk, head of the policy research institute of the Rebuilding Korea Party, also weighed in on Facebook, writing that the acquittal showed "the judicial-political counterattack I warned of repeatedly continues," and blaming the outcome on the failure to "resolutely pursue judicial reform, including abolishing the Court Administration Office and impeaching Chief Justice Jo Hee-de."