After an appeals court overturned a conviction against Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon over allegations that a third party paid for his opinion polls, Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said he regretted a verdict that "does not meet the common sense or expectations of the public." Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Institute, argued the outcome was "the consequence of failing to push through judicial reform."
Han made the remarks in a Facebook post titled "Regret over the court's decision to absolve Mayor Oh," published after the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 7, presided over by Ku Hoe-keun, delivered its ruling on charges that Oh violated the Political Funds Act.
"Concrete evidence capable of proving guilt was presented during the special counsel's investigation and the trial. The lower court weighed all of it and sentenced Mayor Oh to a 10 million won fine, a penalty that would have cost him his post," Han said. "Yet the appellate court overturned the entire legal reasoning and accepted only the one-sided claims of Mayor Oh's side, absolving him." He added that it was "hard to accept that a ruling directly opposite to the first-instance decision was handed down despite clear evidence and testimony."
Calling it "a grave matter that has damaged the fairness and neutrality of elections, which underpin democracy," Han stressed that "the special counsel must appeal immediately and correct the appellate court's misapplication of the law." He added that "the Democratic Party will make every effort to resolve the public's suspicions about Mayor Oh Se-hoon."
In his own Facebook post, Cho said "the counterattack of 'judicial politics,' which I warned about repeatedly, is continuing," and argued it was "the consequence of failing to resolutely push through judicial reform, including the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de."