오세훈의 반격, ‘명태균 게이트’의 진실 공방과 사법 리스크의 갈림길 > K-wave Trends

With the resumption of this trial, Mayor Oh Se-hoon strongly condemned the Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki team, which indicted him, as a ‘malicious investigative agency that swapped criminals and victims.’ He claims that it has already been revealed through court testimony and confession that the opinion poll data provided by Myung Tae-gyun and Kang Hye-kyung's group was fake data that arbitrarily inflated the sample. Oh, the logic of the market is clear. He said that he was merely a victim of a fake investigation without substance, and that the investigative agency should severely punish Myung Tae-gyun and his gang, who tried to make unfair profits based on false information, for fraud. Mayor Oh's offensive suggests that the investigative agency's exercise of prosecutorial power is politically biased, and is interpreted as an intention to use this trial as a venue for securing political legitimacy beyond judicial judgment.

The testimony of former Seoul Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs Kang Cheol-won, who was a key witness in the trial, forms the basis of Mayor Oh's defense logic. Former Deputy Mayor Kang completely denied the suspicion that he had commissioned Myung Tae-gyun to conduct a public opinion poll, and drew a line at the fact that the data brought by Myung at the time was a unilateral submission to demonstrate his abilities as an expert. In particular, he emphasized the absurdity of the suspicions, saying, “How can you entrust the public opinion polls, an important election strategy, to someone who is seeing Mr. Myeong for the first time?” In addition, there was no action such as maintaining a relationship with Mr. Myeong or paying expenses, but rather, he specifically explained the circumstances in which he tried to end the relationship early because he judged that Mr. Myeong's strategic capabilities could not be trusted.

The special prosecution team persistently investigated the circumstances of the request based on the opinion poll results file and questionnaire records found on former Vice Mayor Kang's cell phone. The special prosecutor's office believed that the results of a number of public opinion polls conducted by Myung were delivered to Mayor Oh, and that this evidenced an organic cooperative relationship that went beyond simple sharing of data. However, former Deputy Mayor Kang maintained that receiving these files was only a unilateral act of Mr. Myeong, and that there was no contract or request of any kind. As a result, this trial is expected to be an important test that sets a judicial precedent for how Myung Tae-gyun tried to operate and exert influence in the political world and to what extent politicians should be held accountable in the process.

This incident is acting as a significant variable that threatens Mayor Oh's political life under the strict standards of the Public Official Election Act and the Political Fund Act. If a fine of more than 1 million won is confirmed for violating the Political Fund Act, Mayor Oh will face the fatal result of having his election invalidated and his right to run for office revoked. For Mayor Oh, who has already solidified his political position by successfully winning a fifth term, the results of this trial will go beyond a simple personal legal issue and will have a decisive impact on the continuity of Seoul city government and his next political moves. The attention of the legal community and political circles is focused on what kind of substantive truth the court will find between Myung Tae-gyun's claims and Mayor Oh's rebuttal, and to what extent the political broker's one-sided claims will have legal effect.