Oh Se-hoon Appears at Prosecutors' Office: "I Will Testify Confidently"

Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is under investigation for violating the Public Official Election Act, appeared at the prosecution as a suspect on the 2nd.

Mayor Oh appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office around 10 a.m. that day and told reporters, "I will testify confidently and wait for the results."

He said, "I was elected mayor with the mandate to quickly restore the collapsed Seoul city administration, and I apologize for having to spend time and energy on such matters."

He also expressed confidence in the prosecution's investigation, saying, "The prosecution of the Republic of Korea is renowned worldwide for being very fair and impartial, unaffected by political influence."

When asked about allegations of illegal police investigations that he claimed, Mayor Oh did not respond and entered the prosecution building.

The Public Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Kyung-geun) plans to verify the circumstances and truthfulness of Mayor Oh's statements during a broadcasting debate related to the Pie City project.

The Pie City project is a development of a complex distribution district including department stores, office facilities, and logistics facilities in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. However, suspicions of preferential treatment and corruption arose during the process of changing the site, originally a cargo terminal, to other uses.

This project was approved with modifications during the Seoul City Urban Planning Committee review in 2008 when Oh was mayor, but the project was halted because the project entity failed to repay loans.

However, during the Seoul mayoral by-election campaign in April this year, Oh made statements in a broadcasting debate implying that the Pie City incident was unrelated to his tenure as mayor, leading to a complaint for false information disclosure.

The Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency judged that some of Mayor Oh's related allegations were credible and transferred the case to the prosecution on the 24th of last month. The police also considered his statement about attending a far-right rally once as false information and transferred it to the prosecution as well.