DAVID OH is dancing a political two-step when it comes to our reporting on his misleading claims to have been a Green Beret.
The Republican City Council at-large candidate published two full-page ads in the Daily News apologizing for "any confusion or misimpression" he created with those claims in his campaigns.
But then Oh's attorney sent the Daily News a letter demanding an apology and retraction of the column that revealed the details of Oh's military service.
Oh's attorney curiously injects race into his letter, writing: "For your information, Mr. Oh is an Asian American Republican running for office in the upcoming election, in a city with a rapidly growing Asian American population."
Oh, who called himself a Green Beret in campaign materials this year and in 2007 and 2003, was assigned to a Special Forces unit for training in the early 1990s. He failed to complete the training.
His attorney notes that Oh had a military designation as a Special Forces officer.
Oh, in his published apology, says that was a temporary military designation, making him a "Special Forces candidate," not a qualified Green Beret.
Oh's attorney also takes issue with a follow-up column detailing Oh's arrest and acquittal on gun charges. The attorney claims the column "presented unsupported claims that are in fact incorrect."
He doesn't cite any specific error.
Oh told us he was twice questioned by police in the 1990s after accusations that he pulled guns on people in his Cobbs Creek neighborhood. He was arrested and charged in a third incident.
Oh denied having pulled guns in the first two incidents, but confirmed that he had been armed in the incident that led to his arrest.
He was charged with firing in the air to scare away people he thought were prostitutes and drug dealers but were really undercover police officers.
Oh's attorney claims he "has been threatened and his reputation affected" by our reporting. He asks the Daily News to send his letter to our insurance company as "a statement of a potential claim" - a lawsuit threat.
An attorney for the Daily News replied last week that we stand by our reporting and see no basis for a retraction or apology.
Councilman Frank DiCicco has a little more than three months to go before his fourth and final term in office ends.
But don't look for him to cash his Deferred Retirement Option Plan check and then quietly retire.
