Oh Se-hoon Fined 10 Million Won in First Trial...May Lose Mayoral Post if Supreme Court Upholds Ruling

Oh Se-hoon Gets 10 Million, Aide 3 Million, Sponsor 5 Million Won in Fines
Court Finds All Guilty in "Myung Taegyun Proxy Payment" Case

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers his inaugural speech at the 40th Seoul Metropolitan Government Mayor Inauguration Ceremony held at the Seoul City Hall Multipurpose Hall on July 1, 2026. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was sentenced to a fine of 10 million won in the first trial on charges of receiving poll results from Myung Taegyun and having a sponsor pay the cost on his behalf. If the first-instance ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court, Mayor Oh will lose his post as Seoul Mayor.

The 22nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Cho Hyungwoo) sentenced Mayor Oh to a fine of 10 million won on July 22 at 2 p.m. in the first-instance ruling of the case concerning violations of the Political Funds Act. Kang Chulwon, former Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, was also sentenced to a fine of 3 million won. Kim Hanjung, who was accused of paying the opinion poll fees on behalf of Mayor Oh’s sponsor, Myung, was sentenced to a fine of 5 million won.

Under the Public Official Election Act, if a person is found guilty of violating the Political Funds Act and receives a confirmed sentence of a fine of 1 million won or more, their eligibility to run for office is revoked. Any local government head who loses this eligibility has their election invalidated.

Mayor Oh was sent to trial on the charge of receiving a total of 10 poll results (3 public, 7 unpublished) from Myung before the April 7, 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, and of instructing then-chief secretary Kang to have Kim pay 33 million won in expenses on his behalf. The court determined that 21 million won out of this was attributable to the payment of opinion poll expenses by proxy.

Previously, Special Prosecutor Min Jungki's team considered the money Kim delivered to Myung as the cost of the opinion polls paid on behalf of Mayor Oh and former deputy mayor Kang. The prosecution deemed the acts of the three individuals to be illegal donation and receipt as prohibited under Article 45, Paragraph 1 of the Political Funds Act, indicted them in December 2025, and sought a 1 year and 6 month prison sentence.

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