SEOUL (AFP): An appeals court acquitted Seoul's mayor on Friday in a high-stakes campaign finance case, though a top court's reversal could oust him from office and bar him from a presidential run.
Oh Se-hoon was first elected mayor of the South Korean capital in 2006 and won a fifth term in June in the nation's most powerful municipal role, considered a springboard to high office.
He rose to prominence as a possible contender for the opposition People Power Party (PPP) as other veterans were tainted by former President Yoon Suk Yeol's 2024 disastrous martial law bid.
But a lower court ruled in July that Oh had violated the Political Funds Act by having a patron pay 21 million won ($15,800) for five opinion polls ahead of a 2021 by-election, and fined him 10 million won.
That ruling was overturned by an appeals court on Friday, which cited insufficient evidence.
The Seoul High Court said the only direct evidence lacked credibility and that the remaining evidence was insufficient to prove the charges.
The "trial proceedings have brought to light numerous circumstances that point to the contrary," judge Koo Hoe-geun said.
Prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling, calling the decision "disappointing", meaning the case will now go to the Supreme Court.
If the top court overturns Friday's ruling and Oh is ultimately fined one million won or more, he would lose his post as mayor and be barred from public office for five years.
Under the South Korean Political Funds Act, sentences that include fines of at least one million won trigger both a removal from political posts and a five-year ban from public office.
That would make Oh ineligible to run in the 2030 presidential race.
The PPP has seen public support collapse since its figurehead Yoon attempted to declare martial law in December 2024.
Yoon was removed from office and is in jail while awaiting trial for insurrection.
The liberal-leaning Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae Myung won snap elections in June 2025, and the PPP lost to Lee's party in June's local elections.
But they failed to unseat Oh in the race to become Seoul mayor -- in part because he distanced himself from attempted coup leader Yoon and his closest circle. -- AFP
