[News Today] SEOUL MAYORAL RACE SKEWED SURVEYS

[LEAD]
Political broker Myung Tae-kyun is currently facing allegations of manipulating election nominations, and fabricating poll results to benefit specific politicians. When KBS looked into the poll results of the 2021 Seoul mayor by-election put together by Myung, there were clear signs of manipulation.

[REPORT]
On February 23 in 2021 when the People Power Party's internal race to pick a candidate for Seoul mayor was in full swing ahead of a by-election, there was a report on the undisclosed results of a survey conducted by the Future Korea Institute.

The report says that 1,366 people were survyed at the time. But the original document shows that just 688 people anwered all the ten questions in the poll.

In the final report, the number of respondents was inflated to be nearly twice the actual figure. In particular, results of the survey on those in their 20s to 40s look suspicious.

A phone call was made to a respondent described in the report as a woman in her 30s living in Yongsan-gu district, Seoul. But it turned out to be a man in his 40s residing in Busan.

Survey respondent/ (VOICE MODIFIED)
Living in Seoul? No. I have been in Busan. I rarely receive survey phone calls.

The results of a poll on a hypothetical match between two prominent hopefuls were also altered.

In the original document, Na Kyung-won was leading Oh Se-hoon by a margin of 6.7 perentage points. But in the final report, the margin fell into the range of error.
It indicates that Na did not have the upper hand and was running neck and neck with Oh.

On the day this survey was conducted, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's acquaintance surnamed Kim sent seven million won or some 5,000 U.S. dollars to the Future Korea Institute.

Prof. Kim Jung-gi/ Changwon Nat'l Univ.
It could be spread within the party secretly. Campaigners could use them to the advantage of the candidate they support.

The poll on a possible merger between Oh who secured the nomination of his party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party looks dubious, too.

In the original document, the number of respondents was 963. But it was increased to 1,771 in the poll report.

In 2021, the Future Korea Institute conducted 13 surveys on Oh running in the Seoul mayoral race. There is evidence that at least six were manipulated.

But Oh denies the allegations that he received political broker Myung Tae-kyun's help with his campaign.

Oh Se-hoon/ Seoul mayor (Nov. 27)
I cannot understand this situation. I, myself, have questions in this regard.

Since 2019, the Future Korea Institute, which is allegedly owned by Myung, was fined three times for conducting undisclosed surveys with unrepresented, meaningless samples.