Oh Se-hoon's Side: "Special Counsel's Supreme Court Appeal Repeats Arguments Already Rejected"

"The special counsel's grounds for appeal do not depart from arguments made in the first and second trials"
"We will calmly await the Supreme Court's decision"

On the 30th, people close to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon pushed back against the special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki for appealing to the Supreme Court after challenging the not-guilty verdict in the second trial of a case involving violations of the Political Funds Act, saying, "It is repeating arguments that have already been rejected."

Yonhap News

That day, Lee Jong-hyun, Seoul City's special advisor for civic affairs and communication, issued a statement calling the appeal "expected" and writing, "The special counsel's grounds for appeal do not depart from the arguments it has maintained throughout the first and second trials."

Lee argued that the missed calls, messages from campaign associates, and transfer of 10 million won cited by the special counsel were all matters the second-trial court had reviewed before reaching its decision.

In particular, referring to a passage in a recorded phone call between Kim Han-jeong and Myung Tae-kyun in which Myung said of Mayor Oh, "I don't know that person," Lee stressed that "the logic behind the charges brought by the special counsel has collapsed."

Lee also disputed the special counsel's argument that Mayor Oh and Myung met on December 9, 2020, and maintained their relationship for a considerable period afterward.

"That meeting was arranged when former lawmaker Kim Young-sun brought Myung to see him. This is something Mayor Oh's side has stated from the outset, and for nearly a month afterward, Mayor Oh did not even know Myung's phone number," Lee said. "The special counsel found a single date reference in the written ruling and cited it as grounds for appeal, but even if that date were corrected, it would not affect the court's conclusion."

Mayor Oh's side emphasized as grounds for the second-trial court's not-guilty verdict that ▲the polling work began before the time when Myung received a call requesting a poll ▲a passenger in the car at the time testified that they did not remember hearing Mayor Oh's voice. It also cited the fact that most of the poll results were delivered to the party leadership as a basis for the not-guilty verdict.

"Changing a single date does not make these grounds disappear," Lee said. "It only reveals that they have failed to produce evidence that Mayor Oh actually commissioned the poll."

Lee added, "We will calmly await the Supreme Court's decision," and said, "Mayor Oh will remain steadfastly focused on city administration so that citizens can feel at ease."

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