SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's appellate court on Friday acquitted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of charges involving the illegal acceptance of political funds, overturning a lower court's guilty verdict.
The Seoul High Court cleared Oh of violating the political funds act, reversing the lower court's ruling that sentenced him to a fine of 10 million won (7,540 U.S. dollars) and a forfeiture of 21 million won.
The team of Min Joong-ki, independent counsel who led investigations into corruption allegations involving former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee, sought a prison sentence of one and a half years alongside a forfeiture of 33 million won for Oh during the appeal.
The appellate court ruled that sufficient evidence was not offered to prove Oh's charges, concluding that testimony from self-proclaimed political broker Myung Tae-kyun, which was the sole direct evidence, was unreliable.
Oh was indicted without detention in December 2025 on charges of receiving opinion poll results on 10 occasions ahead of the Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021 from Myung and having his long-time financial supporter, Kim Han-jung, cover the costs.
If Oh is fined over 1 million won in the final ruling, he will lose his mayoral post.
On July 13, Yoon was sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring with his wife to receive customized opinion polls free of charge from the same political broker on 58 occasions ahead of the 2022 presidential election. ■
