Kim Seung-won, a nominee for justice minister, denied Monday that he made any improper request to South Korea’s food and drug regulator over Genencell’s COVID-19 treatment trial approval. He also pushed back against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon’s release of transcripts and messages, calling the leak of investigative materials a criminal matter.
Kim said he should have been more careful when relaying complaints about the clinical approval process, but insisted the review by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was not unfair and that the prosecution’s records support that view. He said the investigation ran for more than three years and involved more than 10 prosecutors during Han’s tenure as justice minister, and argued that prosecutors did not find any improper lobbying or interference with a fair review.
He also rejected Han’s claim that there was outside pressure behind a deferred prosecution decision, pointing to the officials in office at the time and asking how, as a first-term Democratic Party lawmaker, he could have pressured prosecutors into that outcome. Kim said Han should appear as a witness at his confirmation hearing to prove the allegations.
Kim then turned the criticism back on Han, accusing him of selectively leaking investigative materials from the period when Han served as justice minister. He said he wanted to know where the materials came from, whether they were obtained lawfully and whether anyone verified that they matched the originals.
