| Myung Tae-kyun walks past Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon during the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee audit at Seoul City Hall on Thursday. (Newsis) |
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon denied a claim by pollster Myung Tae-kyun that the two had met on several occasions ahead of the 2021 by-elections.
The mayor said he would face Myung at a prosecution questioning slated next month, rather than countering his claims in front of lawmakers.
Speaking at a parliamentary audit held at Seoul City Hall on Thursday, Oh said his encounters with Myung were brief, denying Myung's claim that he asked the pollster to help him win the election.
The mayor said he met Myung only twice and ended contact afterward. Myung claims to have met him Oh seven times in total.
“He’s a man highly skilled in lying,” Oh said, dismissing Myung’s testimony as “entirely untrue.”
The core allegation centers on a payment of 33 million won ($22,900) allegedly made by Oh’s supporter Kim Han-jung, who heads a private foundation, to cover polling expenses incurred by Myung.
Rep. Lee Hae-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea questioned whether the payment was later rewarded, noting that “five of Kim’s board members were later appointed to senior posts at Seoul city-affiliated institutions.”
Myung claimed Oh asked him to “help with favorable polling indicators,” specifically to produce a poll that showed Oh beating Na Kyung-won in the party’s internal primary.
During the 2021 by-elections — held to fill vacant local posts, including that of Seoul mayor — Oh competed against Na Kyung-won before later uniting his candidacy with Ahn Cheol-soo, then the leader of the People’s Party and now a lawmaker for the main opposition People Power Party.
Myung said he still holds phone records and text messages proving his exchanges with Oh and his aides, insisting all communication logs are “preserved and verifiable.”
Myung was released on bail earlier this year after being indicted for allegedly providing internal polling data to then-People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, ahead of the 2022 presidential election.
Earlier Thursday, the special counsel investigating Kim Keon Hee said it would summon Myung and Oh for a face-to-face questioning on Nov. 8.
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