{
  "id": 11376249,
  "title": "18-month prison term sought for Seoul mayor in appellate political funds trial",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/18-month-prison-term-sought-for-seoul-mayor-in-appellate-political-11376249",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-02T06:42:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20261002/18-month-prison-term-sought-for-seoul-mayor-in-appellate-political-funds-trial"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A special counsel team has requested an 18-month prison sentence for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case involving opinion polls conducted prior to the 2021 mayoral by-election. The request was made at the Seoul High Court following a lower court's decision to fine Oh 10 million won for violating the Political Funds Act, which could result in his removal from office. Under the law, officials are automatically disqualified from holding public office if they receive a finalized fine of 1 million won or more for accepting illegal political funds. Oh faced charges of paying a supporter 33 million won for opinion poll results obtained from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun five times ahead of the April 2021 by-election. The lower court partially upheld the charges, finding that Oh had asked Myung for polls on five occasions and his supporter paid a total of 21 million won. Min Joong-ki's special counsel team argued that Oh, as a prominent political figure, is particularly responsible for adhering to the Political Funds Act.",
  "summary": "A special counsel team on Friday sought an 18-month prison term for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case over opinion polls conducted in the lead-up to the 2021 mayoral by-election. Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team made the request at the Seoul High Court after a lower court fined Oh 10 million won ($7,400) for violating the Political Funds Act, putting him at risk of losing his…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yonhap News",
        "title": "18-month prison term sought for Seoul mayor in appellate political funds trial",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/18-month-prison-term-sought-for-seoul-mayor-in-appellate-political",
        "published": "2026-10-02T06:21:16.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "18-month prison term sought for Seoul mayor in appellate political funds trial",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/18-month-prison-term-sought-for-seoul-mayor-in-appellate-political-11379950",
        "published": "2026-10-02T07:07:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}