{
  "id": 17165729,
  "title": "Special counsel appeals Seoul mayor's acquittal in political funds case",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/special-counsel-appeals-seoul-mayors-acquittal-in-political-funds-case-17165729",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-30T03:07:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20261030/special-counsel-appeals-seoul-mayors-acquittal-in-political-funds-case"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The special counsel team filed an appeal on Friday to overturn the acquittal of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case associated with the 2021 mayoral by-election, according to a report from <source 13b98f4c-1d4>. The appeal was submitted to the Seoul High Court a week after the appellate court overturned a lower court's decision to acquit the mayor of violating the Political Funds Act. Oh was charged with providing political supporter Myung Tae-kyun with 33 million won ($24,700) for opinion polls he allegedly received ten times before the 2021 election. The lower court found him partially guilty, imposing a 10 million-won fine that would have stripped him of his mayoralty if finalized. However, the appellate court overturned the conviction, ruling that the credibility of Myung's testimony could not be fully trusted. Charging Myung's testimony as untrustworthy was deemed unlawful as it went beyond the principle of free evaluation of evidence.",
  "summary": "A special counsel team said Friday it has appealed the acquittal of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case linked to the 2021 mayoral by-election. Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said it filed the appeal with the Seoul High Court earlier in the day, a week after the appellate court overturned a lower court ruling to acquit the mayor of violating the Political Funds Act. Oh had been…",
  "key_points": [
    "Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's acquittal appealed in political funds case",
    "Appeal submitted to Seoul High Court a week after overturning",
    "Mayor charged with providing political supporter 33 million won"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The special counsel's legal challenge seeks to restore the mayor's criminal liability by contesting the appellate court's decision to dismiss the central testimony regarding illegal political fund transfers.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yonhap News",
        "title": "Special counsel appeals Seoul mayor's acquittal in political funds case",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/special-counsel-appeals-seoul-mayors-acquittal-in-political-funds-case",
        "published": "2026-10-30T02:36:43.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "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."
}