Seoul: Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon appeared before special counsel investigators Saturday for a face-to-face questioning with self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun over corruption allegations. Oh arrived at the office of special counsel Min Joong-ki shortly before 9 a.m. to be questioned over alleged violations of the political funds act linked to transactions involving unpublished opinion polls during his 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the mayor was previously questioned by prosecutors in May, but it marks his first appearance before the special counsel. The investigation centers on allegations that Kim Han-jung, a supporter of Oh, asked a polling company effectively operated by Myung to conduct 13 unpublished opinion polls during the by-election and paid 33 million won (US$22,650) for them on Oh's behalf.

Before entering the office, Oh showed reporters a printed copy of a news report indicating that the unpolished opinion polls Myung claimed to have provided to his campaign were largely fabricated and not regularly shared, citing a forensic investigation. Myung appeared around 9:15 a.m. as a witness in the case. He told reporters that Kim Han-jung may have sent him money at Oh's instruction.

Investigators are expected to question Oh on whether he was aware of Kim's payments to Myung and whether they were made in exchange for the polling agency's conducting unpublished opinion polls during the campaign.