Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Seo Young-gyo has called for a prison sentence against Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who faces allegations that a third party paid for opinion polls on his behalf.
With the Seoul High Court set to deliver its appeal ruling Friday, Seo posted a statement on Facebook in her capacity as chair of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
"He received illegal political funds paid on his behalf and should leave public office," Seo said. She added that a businessman with no prior acquaintance with political operative Myung Tae-gyun had handed Myung 21 million won ($15,800), and that Myung had conducted 10 rounds of polling on Oh's behalf and delivered the results to the mayor.
Seo said it had been confirmed who commissioned the polls exclusively for Oh, who paid for them, and who benefited. "Oh was the one who benefited, and the costs were covered by someone close to him," she said.
She said Myung had testified in court that Oh had asked him to conduct polls showing Oh beating lawmaker Na Kyung-won, and that each poll cost between 4.5 million won and 5 million won per round.
Seo noted that a 2004 electoral reform law tightening grounds for invalidating election results is commonly known as the "Oh Se-hoon Act," after Oh championed it as a first-term lawmaker. Under that law, an elected official's victory is nullified upon receiving a fine of 1 million won or more. "The time has come for him to leave public office under the very law he pushed through with such conviction as a freshman legislator," she said.
klee@heraldcorp.com
