Democratic Party of Korea floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee [Newsis]
Democratic Party of Korea floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee [Newsis]

The Democratic Party of Korea on Saturday demanded Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon "stop hiding behind excuses and apologize to the people of Seoul," after he received a first-trial conviction — carrying a sentence that would strip him of his post — on charges of having a supporter cover the cost of polls commissioned from political operative Myung Tae-gyun.

Floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee said in a written briefing that Oh had "once again pleaded not guilty" at the first hearing of his appeal on Friday.

Lee said Oh's camp had dismissed the first-trial ruling as "vague conjecture," and said the mayor appeared to be throwing everything into avoiding the guilty verdict — including expanding his legal team to 16 attorneys.

"The problem is that Seoul city governance has ground to a halt in the meantime," Lee said. "With pressing livelihood issues such as housing instability piling up, the mayor is consumed with constructing a not-guilty narrative in the courtroom."

Lee added that the 9.3 million residents of Seoul had entrusted Oh "not with his personal legal defense, but with looking after their lives."

"Before insisting on his innocence, Mayor Oh should first bow his head and sincerely apologize for the illicit political-funds allegations he brought upon himself," Lee said. "He must not keep repeating baseless claims while denying facts already confirmed by evidence."

Oh was indicted last December on charges of commissioning 10 polls from Myung — three for public release and seven for internal use — ahead of the People Power Party primary for the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, and of asking businessman Kim Han-jeong to cover the 33 million won ($23,700) cost on his behalf.

The first trial found that Oh had commissioned five of those polls from Myung and asked Kim to pay 21 million won of the costs, sentencing him to a fine of 10 million won and an additional surcharge of 21 million won.

At the first appellate hearing on Friday, Oh's legal team again denied the charges, saying he "never commissioned polls from Myung and never asked Kim to cover any costs on his behalf."


yjc@heraldcorp.com