Cho Eunhee and Myung Taekyun Referred to Prosecution for Illegal Opinion Poll in 'Nomination Interference' Scandal

Leaked Party Member Contact Information
Opinion Poll Conducted in a Single Day

Ahead of the 21st National Assembly by-election, Cho Eunhee, a member of the People Power Party (Seoul Seocho-gu Gap), and Myung Taekyun were referred to the prosecution for allegedly leaking the contact information of local constituency responsible party members without authorization and using it to conduct an undisclosed public opinion poll.

The Special Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency announced on June 30, 2026, that Cho and Myung had been sent to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office without detention on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act. Cho also faces charges of violating the Political Funds Act.

Myung Taekyun, who is suspected of intervening in the nomination process. Photo by Cho Yongjun

Cho is accused of providing Myung with the so-called “safe numbers” of approximately 2,200 responsible party members in Seocho-gu in February 2022, when the People Power Party primary for the Seoul Seocho-gu Gap constituency was being held ahead of the election. Myung is accused of conducting a public opinion poll using this list and then providing a portion of the poll data to Cho, thereby leaking personal information a second time. The police added a violation of the Political Funds Act to Cho’s charges, noting that she received the public opinion poll results free of charge.

This case was transferred from the Kim Keonhee Special Prosecutor’s Team to the Special Investigation Headquarters. The police questioned Cho on June 9 and subsequently questioned Myung on June 18. It was reported that the opinion poll conducted by Myung was completed in a single day.

Previously, in November last year, the Democratic Party of Korea raised suspicions that Myung intervened in Cho’s party primary race, helping her secure the nomination. The Democratic Party released related phone call recordings and claimed that Cho had illegally leaked the responsible party member list to Myung, which may have been used to conduct an undisclosed public opinion poll.

At that time, Cho resigned from her post as mayor of Seocho-gu and ran in the by-election. She competed in the primary against former lawmakers Lee Hyehoon, Jung Mikyung, Jeon Heekyung, and former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Jeon Okhyun, ultimately securing the party nomination. She was elected with a 72.7% share of the vote.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.