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Trial for Seoul mayor to begin this month over proxy payment for opinion polls

Published: 09 Dec. 2025, 16:01

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a city council session at the Seoul Metropolitan Council in Jung District, central Seoul, on April 4. [NEWS1]

The trial for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is accused of getting a longtime supporter to pay for opinion polls conducted ahead of his election in 2021, will begin later this month, legal sources said on Tuesday.

The Seoul Central District Court has scheduled the first preparatory hearing for 2 p.m. on Dec. 23, they said, after a special counsel team indicted Oh on charges of violating the Political Funds Act.

A preparatory hearing is held to hear the opinions of the prosecution and defendant and schedule future proceedings before the formal trial. It does not require the defendant's attendance.

The team suspects Oh got his supporter and business owner, Kim Han-jung, to pay 33 million won ($22,400) on his behalf to Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, for 10 public opinion surveys conducted from January to February 2021.

The payment was allegedly made in five installments between February and March that year to an employee of a polling company effectively run by Myung — known in Korean as “Future Korea Research Institute” — before Oh's election in April.

Former Seoul Deputy Mayor Kang Cheol-won, who was chief of staff for Oh's campaign at the time, and Kim, the supporter, have also been indicted on the same charges and will be tried with the mayor.

Oh has denied the accusations, saying that he neither commissioned the surveys nor received them from Myung, and that Kim's payment had nothing to do with him.

Meanwhile, Myung has claimed that he met with Oh seven times, and that the mayor begged him for help, claiming he needed an opinion poll that showed him beating his rival Na Kyung-won.

A conviction for receiving illegal political funds could deal a severe blow to Oh's career, as a confirmed fine of 1 million won or more would bar him from public office for five years. A prison sentence would extend the ban to a decade.

Yonhap