The trial on alleged violations of the Political Funds Act involving five-term Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will resume next week. Under the Special Prosecutor Act, the court must issue a final judgment on the charges against Mayor Oh by as early as the end of this year. If he receives a sentence of imprisonment or heavier, he could lose the mayorship only six months into his term, so attention is focused on how the court will rule.

According to the legal community on the 5th, Criminal Division 22 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Cho Hyeong-woo) will resume the hearing in the Political Funds Act case involving Mayor Oh on the 10th. On the 17th, after questioning him as the defendant, the court plans to move to closing arguments. Earlier, ahead of the June 3 local elections, the bench temporarily halted the proceedings out of concern that the trial could affect the election.

Prosecutors allege that, ahead of the April 7, 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, he received polling results from Myung Tae-gyun on ten occasions in total and had supporter Kim Han-jeong pay 33 million won in costs on his behalf. His side has consistently said that while he did meet Myung, there was no proxy payment of polling fees, denying all charges.

The first-instance verdict for Mayor Oh is expected this month. The Special Prosecutor Act provides that "the pronouncement of judgment shall be made within six months of the filing of the indictment at first instance, and within three months of the date of pronouncement of the judgment at second and third instance, respectively." Because Mayor Oh was indicted last December, the first-instance verdict should come this month and the second-instance verdict in September. Taking into account the time limits for appeal and final appeal, the Supreme Court should issue a final ruling as early as this December, or by early next year at the latest.

If the court sentences Mayor Oh to imprisonment or heavier, he will lose his office. The Local Autonomy Act requires a local government head to leave office when that person loses eligibility to run for office. Under the Public Official Election Act, anyone sentenced to imprisonment or heavier is stripped of that eligibility. In short, such a sentence would deprive him of eligibility and cost him the mayorship.

His camp believes it can overcome the legal risk by pointing to the acquittal of First Lady Kim Keon-hee and her husband, who had been indicted on charges of receiving free polling from Myung. After the first-instance ruling in the case involving Kim, Lee Jong-hyun, Seoul City special adviser on livelihoods, commented, "If the legal principles and the court's key findings of fact are applied as they are to Mayor Oh Se-hoon's trial, you will easily understand how overreaching the special counsel's indictment of Mayor Oh was."

However, some argue that the case of Oh should be viewed differently from the First Lady ruling because there are records of monetary transactions and indications that polling was instructed. In acquitting her at first instance, the court cited as grounds that the consideration for the polling was ambiguous and that there had been no instruction to conduct the polling, so the benefit of the polling could not be seen as accruing to the couple. By contrast, in the indictment the special counsel stated that Mayor Oh paid 33 million won for the polling through Mr. Kim, and that Oh commissioned the polling through former vice mayor for political affairs Kang Cheol-won.