One day before an appellate verdict on charges that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon violated the Political Funds Act, Seo Young-kyo, chair of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, issued a statement under her committee title calling for a prison sentence. The People Power Party pushed back sharply, calling it "blatant interference in a trial."
Seo posted the statement on her social media account on the 22nd under her title as committee chair, arguing that "Mayor Oh should be sentenced to prison" and that "he paid illicit political funds through someone else, so he should step down from public office."
Seo laid out her account of the case: "A businessman who had never met Myung Tae-kyun handed him 21 million won, a large sum, and Myung conducted 10 opinion polls for Mayor Oh and delivered the results to him." She described it as "a very simple case in which Mayor Oh took the benefit of the polls, an acquaintance of his covered the cost, and Myung, who received the money, carried out the polls and reported to Mayor Oh." She added that the 2004 election law that toughened grounds for invalidating an election win "was called the Oh Se-hoon law," and that "the time has come for him to leave public office under the very law he created, which voids the election of an official fined 1 million won or more."
The People Power Party immediately went on the offensive, calling it judicial pressure that infringes on the independence of the courts. In a statement, chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon said the party expressed "deep regret over conduct that pressures the judiciary by urging a ruling from the court under the committee chair's title in the middle of a parliamentary audit," calling it "clear involvement in a trial that directly violates judicial independence and the neutrality of court proceedings." Choi said that "for the head of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to declare guilt in a specific case, go so far as to mention a sentence and press for a verdict is no different from threatening the court to rule according to a set of guidelines." She added that "trying to steer a ruling in a case where even the facts have not been established is a grave challenge to parliamentary democracy."
Rival parties also clashed heatedly in the committee's audit session that day. Rep. Park Hyung-soo, the People Power Party's committee liaison, raised his voice, asking, "How can she issue a statement like this in the middle of a parliamentary audit?" He said, "The court is an agency under our oversight and the comprehensive audit is still ahead of us. I cannot understand why the committee chair would issue such a statement." Park also pressed her, saying, "I understand Chair Seo entered the Seoul mayoral primary and then dropped out midway. Are you planning to run for Seoul mayor if Mayor Oh is sentenced to prison and loses his post?"
Other People Power Party lawmakers protested loudly, demanding she "issue it as a Seoul resident, not as committee chair." Seo countered, "I am both a Seoul resident and a lawmaker representing Seoul," adding, "I said it as committee chair so that they would make a clear judgment."