# Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Fined Over Polling Costs, and the Amount Could Cost Him His Office > A district court fined Oh 10 million won for a political funds violation tied to 2021 by-election opinion polls. Under Korean law, a confirmed fine of a million won or more forces an elected official from office, so the mayorship turns on his appeal. - Source: Korea First - Canonical URL: https://koreafirst.tv/article/oh-se-hoon-fined-political-funds-case - Author: Korea First Staff - Section: Politics - Published: 2026-07-22T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-22T09:00:00.000Z - Tags: Oh Se-hoon, Seoul, Political Funds Act, Myung Tae-kyun, Courts --- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was fined 10 million won, about 6,760 dollars, on Wednesday over a violation of the Political Funds Act, a sum small in money but large in consequence. Under Korean law, an elected official who receives a confirmed fine of one million won or more, or a prison sentence, forfeits their office. The fine is ten times that line. The Seoul Central District Court also fined Kang Cheol-won, a former campaign chief of staff and deputy mayor, three million won, and Kim Han-jung, a businessman who supported Oh, five million won. ## The polls at the center The case turns on five opinion polls conducted ahead of the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, the vote that returned Oh to the office he had left more than a decade earlier. Prosecutors said Oh had the polls commissioned through Myung Tae-kyun, a political broker, and asked Kim to cover 21 million won in costs. The court found that arranging for a supporter to pay those costs amounted to an illegal political contribution. The defendant requested his supporter to pay the polling costs, the court said, characterising the payment as an unlawful contribution. ## Why the office is at stake The disqualification rule is what makes a modest fine a threat to a sitting mayor. It is designed so that a criminal finding of any real weight removes an official from public office rather than leaving the judgment to voters or party. A one million won threshold is low by design, and Oh cleared it by a wide margin. The fine is not yet final. Oh said he would appeal immediately, and until the higher courts rule, he keeps his position. The case now moves to an appellate court and potentially the Supreme Court, a process that can run well beyond a single term. ## A broker at the middle of several cases Myung Tae-kyun, the broker named in the polling arrangement, has become a recurring figure in a wider set of influence-peddling allegations. The same name runs through a related case in which former President Yoon Suk Yeol received a two-year prison sentence. Oh is one of the conservative movement's more prominent figures, and a mayor of the capital removed from office by a funds conviction would carry weight beyond city hall. For now the outcome rests on appeal, where fines of this kind are sometimes reduced below the disqualifying line and sometimes upheld. --- Originally published by Korea First. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://koreafirst.tv/article/oh-se-hoon-fined-political-funds-case.