Seoul mayor faces indictment over alleged election polls

The independent counsel team led by Min Jung-gi announced on Dec. 1 that it had indicted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on charges of violating the Political Funds Act. According to the counsel, Oh requested a public opinion poll related to the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election from political broker Myung Tae-gyun, and one of his political sponsors paid the polling expenses on his behalf.

The counsel said Oh, former Seoul deputy mayor for political affairs Kang Chul-won, and businessman Kim Han-jung, a supporter of Oh, were indicted for commissioning a total of 10 public opinion polls from Myung in January and February 2021 during the by-election period. The counsel added that Kim paid 33 million won in five separate installments to cover the polling costs. A spokesperson for the counsel said three of the polls were intended for public disclosure and seven were not. The spokesperson explained that Oh asked Myung to conduct the polls and instructed Kang, then the campaign chief of staff, to consult with Myung about them.

Shortly after the indictment was announced, Oh issued a statement criticizing the decision. He said the counsel had abandoned legal and ethical principles and pushed ahead with a predetermined indictment driven by the orders of the Democratic Party. Oh added that the case was a forced and unfounded indictment based solely on the testimony of convicted fraudster Myung, without credible evidence. He said it would soon become clear that the indictment was politically motivated to benefit the Lee Jae-myung administration. Oh has consistently denied the accusations, saying he neither commissioned nor received the results of any poll from Myung.

The Democratic Party’s task force for comprehensive response to the three independent counsel cases held a press conference, saying, "Defendant Oh Se-hoon should resign as mayor." The task force added that if the allegations were true, Oh had deceived the public with an illegal poll and won the election under false pretenses, making him unfit not only to run for re-election but also to serve as mayor. In response, Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson for the conservative People Power Party, called the case an indictment engineered to interfere in local elections and said the Democratic Party designed the investigation while the independent counsel carried it out as a targeted political probe.


송유근 기자 big@donga.com