On June 20, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon commented on the prosecution's search and seizure related to allegations involving the "political broker" Myung Tae-gyun, saying, "It was something we had been waiting for. A very long-awaited procedure has taken place."
After the search and seizure of the main office at City Hall concluded around 6:20 p.m., Mayor Oh met with reporters and stated, "If the investigation is to be concluded anyway, I must go and participate in the investigation, and I considered this a necessary procedure to go through."
On the 20th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is leaving his office after stating his position regarding the prosecution's search and seizure in front of the Seoul City Hall office. Photo by Yonhap News
The search and seizure of the mayor's office that day lasted over seven hours, from around 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Simultaneous searches were also conducted at the mayor's official residence in Hannam-dong and the residence of former Political Affairs Deputy Mayor Kang Cheol-won. The searches at these two locations ended around 2 p.m.
It was confirmed that Mayor Oh submitted eight mobile phones that he had used in the past or was currently using during the search and seizure process.
Regarding this, Mayor Oh explained, "I have only one phone number. Over the past decade or so, I have kept every mobile phone I used without discarding any of them," adding, "This is my personal promise to always act transparently and honorably, so I did not throw away any phones and submitted them all to the prosecution."
When asked if he had been notified of a summons schedule by the prosecution, he replied, "I am waiting to be investigated as soon as possible."
Mayor Oh emphasized that the allegations of violating the Political Funds Act against him cannot be established. He said, "There is something we must clarify today," and added, "The Future Korea Research Institute, which Myung Tae-gyun operated and which was said to have conducted opinion polls, was an unqualified illegal organization."
He continued, "An unqualified illegal organization has no right to conduct opinion polls, regardless of whether the results are published or unpublished," and stated, "Spending political funds there itself cannot be established as a violation."
Furthermore, he elaborated, "Therefore, even if Kim Han-jung paid any compensation, it cannot be considered a violation of the Political Funds Act, and rather, it was revealed yesterday that we were defrauded, and this fact has been reported to the investigative authorities."
Mayor Oh also said, "It was reported that Myung Tae-gyun and his lawyer claimed that the three of us?myself, Kim Han-jung, and Myung Tae-gyun?had a three-party confrontation, but both Myung Tae-gyun and his lawyer admitted that he never made such a statement."
He added, "These claims were reported multiple times and caused much misunderstanding, but I want to clearly inform you once again that they have acknowledged this fact."
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