Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon appeared before special counsel Min Joong-ki’s investigators Saturday for questioning alongside self-described power broker Myung Tae-kyun over unpublished opinion polls allegedly ordered during Oh’s 2021 mayoral by-election campaign.
What investigators asked
Prosecutors previously questioned Oh in May, but this was his first session under the special counsel statute. The probe centers on whether supporter Kim Han-jung paid polling firm Myung Tae-kyyun about 33 million won for 13 private surveys that never aired publicly, and whether Oh knew or directed the payments.
Oh carried a printout of forensic work suggesting some surveys Myung claimed to deliver were fabricated or not routinely shared, according to pool reports. Myung arrived minutes later as a witness and told reporters Kim may have sent money at Oh’s instruction—a statement investigators will test against bank ledgers already in evidence.
Political stakes
Oh is weighing another mayoral run while the national government reshuffles tax and housing aides. A special counsel referral does not presume guilt, but it freezes messaging: Blue House allies highlighted the polls as a campaign-finance issue, while Oh’s camp called the session a rehearsed showdown designed for headlines.
What happens next
Min’s team can summon Kim Han-jung and polling company staff next. If indictments follow, the National Assembly would face pressure to schedule oversight hearings on local election spending caps. For Seoul residents, the immediate question is simpler: whether city hall can keep focused on flood infrastructure and transit budgets while its mayor spends Saturdays across a table from a broker who once boasted about invisible influence.
City operations
Deputy mayors kept infrastructure meetings on schedule while Oh was at the special counsel office, briefing reporters that flood-control tenders would not slip. Still, city council members from opposition parties asked whether election-law clouds distract from yearend budgeting for ward offices.