Seoul High Court will rule Oct. 23 on the 10 million won fine that threatens Oh Se-hoon's mayoralty

The money in Oh's case gets smaller at every stage. The special counsel alleged 33 million won paid across 10 instances ^[6]. The first court accepted 21 million won, about 64% of that ^[1], for five polls, or roughly 4.2 million won a poll ^[2]. It then fined Oh 10 million won ^[9]. The fine is less than half the sum the court found had been paid on his behalf ^[3]. Under the Political Funds Act it is still enough to cost him the mayoralty, according to the Seoul Economic Daily ^[9].

The first court reached Oh by inference. It held that a sum that large could not have changed hands without a request from Oh's camp, because businessman Kim Han-jung and broker Myung Tae-kyun were not yet close at the time ^[8]. The recording goes at that step directly. "They didn't ask for it, I did it by myself," Kim said on the tape ^[10]. Myung went further: "Oh Se-hoon doesn't know. He doesn't know, so don't worry. I'll take care of it." ^[11] Kim's side also cites Myung calling Oh "a guy with a bad fortune" and "fated to die away from home." Its argument is that a broker polling at Oh's request would not have spoken of him with that hostility ^[14].

Myung's side has reportedly told the court in writing that the remark was about unifying opposition candidates, not the polls ^[12]. The court admitted the recording as impeachment evidence ^[13]. Oh closed on his own record, saying he had led the enactment of the so-called Oh Se-hoon Law on political-fund transparency ^[16]. "The idea that I asked someone described as a backer to pay costs on my behalf cannot be reconciled with the political convictions I have upheld, and is beyond imagining," Oh said ^[15].

At 2 p.m. on Oct. 23 ^[3] the High Court can keep the five-poll finding and the fine, accept the tape's account and acquit, or move toward the prison term the special counsel again requested ^[4]. I think the ruling turns on that single inference about 21 million won ^[8]. The case against that view is the tape's standing: it came in only as impeachment evidence ^[13], and the man speaking on it disputes what he meant ^[12]. If the court keeps all five polls, the recording has failed, and the 10 million won fine remains the measure of Oh's exposure ^[9].

The report fixes a date and an hour only for Oh, about three months after his July 22 first-instance verdict ^[5]. It does not describe the case against Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho, the third name on the mid-October calendar ^[1], or say whether an appellate ruling would by itself end a term in office.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon's case is smaller in cash. The Roger Vivier clutch he and his wife allegedly gave in March 2023 was worth 2.6 million won ^[18], about one-eighth of the polling money in Oh's case ^[4]. Against it sits a National Assembly seat ^[2].