Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon appeared before special counsel Min Joong-ki's team on the 8th to undergo a face-to-face interrogation related to the investigation into "political broker" Myung Tae-gyun and the alleged proxy payment of polling fees.
Oh arrived around 9 a.m. at the special counsel's office in KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno-gu, Seoul, as a suspect on charges of violating the Political Funds Act. Oh was questioned by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on May 25 over related allegations, but this is his first appearance before the special counsel.
Whether a face-to-face interrogation would take place was briefly unclear after Myung, who had been notified to appear as a reference witness, moved to skip the session, but he reversed course and decided to appear, allowing the confrontation to proceed. Myung arrived around 9:14 a.m.
Before entering, Oh showed reporters an article addressing the allegations and said, "This is an article in The Kyunghyang Shinmun saying most of the unpublished opinion polls that Myung Tae-gyun allegedly provided to our camp were fabricated." He added, "Even this was not regularly provided to the camp, as revealed by the forensic results."
In response, Myung said, "The person isn't even that old—did dementia set in?" and countered, "He doesn't know the meaning of published and unpublished polls and is ignorant." He continued, "(From Oh's side) they asked me to create a poll that would beat lawmaker Na Kyung-won. I received a promise from Oh that he would give me an apartment in return (for the polling)."
The alleged proxy payment of polling fees centers on claims that during the April 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, Oh received 13 unpublished opinion polls from the Mirae Korea Research Institute, which has been identified as being effectively owned by Myung, and had the related expense paid on his behalf. A supporter of Oh, Kim Han-jung, is suspected of having paid about 33 million won to the account of Kang Hye-kyung, then a staffer at the Mirae Korea Research Institute.
Over this, Oh and Myung are engaged in a truth battle. Contrary to Myung's claim that he met Oh seven times, including occasions with former lawmaker Kim Young-sun regarding opinion polls, Oh says he cut ties after meeting Myung twice and was unaware that his supporter Kim had covered the opinion poll expense.
As the accounts of Oh and Myung diverge, the special counsel team plans to establish the exact facts through a face-to-face interrogation. It is expected to then assess whether there was awareness of the acceptance of opinion polls and proxy payment of expenses, and whether the polls constituted consideration.
This face-to-face interrogation is known to have been requested first by Oh. As their positions run in parallel, the idea is to summon both sides at the same time and assess the credibility of their statements.