The Seoul High Court has decided to live stream the verdict in the appeal of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is accused of violating political finance laws.
According to legal sources on October 20, the court's Criminal Division 7, led by Judge Koo Hwa-geun, will hold the hearing on October 23 at 2 p.m. The court plans to film the proceedings using its own equipment and transmit it to various broadcasters.
The court has previously allowed live broadcasts of verdicts only in cases closely related to public interest or of significant social concern.
Oh is facing trial for allegedly receiving polling results from political broker Myung Tae-kyun on ten occasions during the April 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, with the costs amounting to 33 million won being covered by his long-time supporter, businessman Kim Han-jeong.
In the first trial, the court acknowledged that Oh had commissioned five polls from Myung and that Kim had covered 21 million won of the costs, imposing a fine of 10 million won and ordering the forfeiture of 21 million won.
According to Article 57 of the Political Fund Act, if a fine of over 1 million won for receiving illegal political funds is confirmed, the individual is barred from assuming or being appointed to public office for five years, and if already in office, they lose their position immediately.
Thus, if the second trial maintains the same level of sentencing as the first, and the Supreme Court confirms it, Oh would lose his position as mayor of Seoul and would be ineligible to run in the next presidential election.
The special prosecutor's team led by Kim Geon-hee, which handled the investigation and prosecution of this case, sought a sentence of one year and six months in prison along with the forfeiture of 33 million won during the closing arguments on October 2.
The special prosecutor criticized Oh, stating, "As a prominent politician, he should have a strong sense of legal compliance, yet he failed to follow proper procedures and had a third party cover the polling costs."
In contrast, Oh strongly asserted his innocence, claiming that requesting a third party to cover costs does not align with his political beliefs.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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