Mayor's aides questioned by prosecution in corruption probe

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Mayor's aides questioned by prosecution in corruption probe

Published: 10 Mar. 2025, 17:35 Updated: 11 Mar. 2025, 13:44

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kang Cheol-won, Seoul's former deputy mayor for public affairs, speaks to reporters as he appears for questioning over Mayor Oh Se-hoon's alleged ties to self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 10. [YONHAP]

Two aides of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon appeared before prosecutors on Monday as part of an investigation into his alleged connection with self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun during the 2021 mayoral by-election campaign.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office summoned Kang Cheol-won, the city’s former deputy mayor for public affairs, and Park Chan-gu, a special adviser on political affairs to the metropolitan government, as witnesses, according to the city government. Both were part of Oh’s campaign during the 2021 mayoral by-election.

On Dec. 2, Oh filed a complaint against Myung with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, accusing him of fraud and dereliction of duty after allegations surfaced of Myung’s connection to his campaign.

Kang, who arrived for questioning Monday afternoon, told reporters that the interrogation would serve as an opportunity to “clearly prove the truth” behind Myung’s testimonies, which he claimed were “95 percent false.” Kang served as Oh's aide in 2000 when he first became a lawmaker and as the city's deputy mayor from May 2023 to June last year.

He further refuted Myung’s allegations that Oh met with him seven times, had a three-way meeting with the mayor’s sponsor Kim Han-jeong and commissioned 13 unpublished opinion polls through Future Korea Research Institute, a polling agency reportedly linked to Myung.

Kang reiterated that Oh never met Myung in connection with opinion surveys during the mayoral by-election.

Self-proclaimed political broker Myung Tae-kyun leaves the Changwon District Court in South Gyeongsang after attending an arrest warrant hearing on Nov. 14. [NEWS1]

Myung has claimed that he met Oh “seven times during the campaign” and that the mayor personally called him to request a “poll result that would give him an advantage over his opponent, People Power Party [PPP] Rep. Na Kyung-won.”

While Oh acknowledged meeting Myung through ex-PPP Rep. Kim Young-sun, he said he cut ties with him in January 2021 after finding a test survey result unreliable.

On Feb. 26, prosecutors raided the residence and office of Kim Han-jeong, an entrepreneur and a known sponsor of Oh, over allegations that he paid Myung around 33 million won ($24,000) to conduct polls in support of the Seoul mayor.

Oh’s aides have denied any involvement in manipulating opinion surveys, stressing that financial transactions between Myung and Kim were unrelated to Oh’s campaign.

On the same day, prosecutors also resummoned Kang Hye-kyung, the former accounting manager for ex-Rep. Kim Young-sun, as a witness. She was the first to expose allegations of Myung’s influence-peddling in lobbying for Kim as the party’s candidate in the 2022 by-election.

The investigation has been gaining momentum since the National Assembly approved a special counsel probe into Myung’s alleged activities on Feb. 28. The central government must decide whether to approve or veto the bill by Saturday.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]