▲ Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks to reporters ahead of his trial at the Seoul Central District Court on March 4, 2026. (Yonhap)

Seoul mayor-trial

Seoul mayor denies charges of proxy poll payment in court

SEOUL, March 4 (Yonhap) -- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon denied accusations of a proxy payment for opinion poll expenses during the first formal trial on the case at a court Wednesday.

The trial at the Seoul Central District Court came after Oh was indicted by a special counsel team last December on charges of getting his longtime supporter to pay 33 million won (US$22,300) on his behalf to Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, for 10 public opinion surveys conducted from January to February 2021.

The Future Korea Research Institute, a polling company in the southeastern city of Changwon effectively run by Myung, allegedly conducted the surveys ahead of the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election.

The team of special counsel Min Joong-ki alleged in the trial that Oh called Myung around Jan. 21, 2021, to ask him to conduct an opinion poll for the Seoul mayoral by-election and then instructed his chief of staff Kang Cheol-won to consult with Myung. Around that time, Oh also asked his supporter Kim Han-jung to pay for the opinion poll expenses, the team said.

Oh's lawyers countered the claim, saying he neither requested Myung to conduct any opinion poll related to the Seoul mayoral by-election, nor had any motive to do so. They also stressed that there was no motive to request a poll from small companies like the Future Korea Research Institute.

Meanwhile, Oh expressed doubts about the timing of his indictment in front of reporters before entering the courtroom, saying his trial and campaign period for the June 3 local elections coincide exactly.

"This case became publicly known since September 2024, and I had repeatedly asked for swift investigations by the prosecution and investigative agencies," Oh said. "But the requests were not accepted and the trial and election periods came to coincide precisely after the special counsel's probe."

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