"Yoon Acquitted in Opinion Poll Case" Judge Gu Hoegeun to Rule on Oh Sehoon's Appeal Today

Oh's case hinges on whether he knew the costs were paid on his behalf
The assignment to the same panel was also raised during a parliamentary audit

The appellate ruling on Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon's alleged violation of the Political Funds Act is due on Oct. 23. Earlier this month, Gu Hoegeun, the presiding judge of the appellate panel and a senior judge at the Seoul High Court (22nd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted over a similar "Myung Tae-kyun opinion poll" controversy.

The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 7, presided over by Gu Hoegeun, will hold a hearing to deliver its appellate ruling in Oh's case at 2 p.m. today. Oh is accused of commissioning opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election and having supporter Kim Hanjeong pay the costs on his behalf. The lower court previously fined him 10 million won.

On Oct. 7, the same panel presided over by Gu overturned the lower court's two-year prison sentence for Yoon and Myung on appeal, acquitting them of violating the Political Funds Act. The panel found no evidence of an agreement to conduct or provide the polls free of charge, and ruled that the polls Myung provided should be viewed as a political benefit, not a financial benefit.

However, the key issues in the two cases are different. The central question in Yoon's case was whether free opinion polls constituted a financial benefit. In Oh's case, the key question is whether Oh knew that Kim was paying the costs and was involved, given that Kim actually paid them. On Aug. 28, the panel also asked Myung, who appeared as a witness, why he claimed there had been no commission or agreement on costs in Yoon's case, but that there had been in Oh's case.

The assignment of both cases involving Myung Tae-kyun to the same panel was also raised during a parliamentary audit. On Oct. 16, Kim Dong-a, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, asked during an audit by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee why Oh's case had been assigned to the panel that acquitted Yoon, saying, "The two cases have the same structure: a politician received an opinion poll for election purposes and did not pay for it himself." Seoul High Court Chief Judge Kim Dae-woong replied, "The assignment was made randomly; the case was not assigned to a particular panel."

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