Han Dong-hoon Claims "Successful Lobbying," While Kim Seung-won's Side Denies It as "Political Attack by Cutting Context"

[Anchor]

We continue our verification reports on ministerial nominees. Regarding Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won's alleged lobbying favor involving the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon released additional call transcripts, claiming it was "successful lobbying." In response, nominee Kim's camp fired back, arguing that lawmaker Han is cutting the transcripts out of context to launch a political offensive.

Here is reporter Kim Kwan-jin with the details.

[Reporter]

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon claimed that there are more phone call transcripts between Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won and a broker surnamed Yang, regarding allegations that support was solicited for approval tests requested by Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer.

According to Han, in a primary phone call on October 12, 2021, two weeks prior to the clinical trial approval for the new drug, nominee Kim asked Yang about the relevant department at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and said, "We need to grant phase 3 approval quickly so that we can see the results anyway. I will ask the minister directly to look into it."

Han claimed that during a second phone call, after Yang said, "It won't just stop at the division head level," nominee Kim responded, "Blocked at the division head level? Understood."

Han also stated that a text message sent by the secretary of the food and drug safety minister to the head of the responsible division included the message, "The minister has asked to look into this, but make sure such talk does not come from that side again," arguing that this was "successful lobbying that reached the working-level staff."

Nominee Kim's camp countered that lawmaker Han is "twisting a civil complaint check into pressure for approval by cutting the transcripts out of context," maintaining that "what the nominee requested was a check and report on the review status."

The Democratic Party also demanded that the source and acquisition path of the investigative data, text messages, and transcripts be revealed first.

[Kim Dong-a / Democratic Party Lawmaker: We are filing a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who illegally received non-public investigative records and is misusing them for political strife and political maneuvering, as well as against the unnamed provider.]

Meanwhile, the People Power Party raised additional suspicions regarding a social cooperative where nominee Kim's family works.

Lawmaker Joo Jin-woo claimed that after the cooperative, headed by nominee Kim's spouse, relocated in 2022 from Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to Suwon—nominee Kim's constituency—it was selected as a provider of activity services for individuals with developmental disabilities in Suwon, causing government voucher revenues, which did not exist prior, to surge to approximately 880 million won over four years.

[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party Lawmaker: The spouse and two children were successively employed by this cooperative and collected over 330 million won in wages.]

In response, nominee Kim's camp stated that the selection of the Suwon service provider was designated through open recruitment and screening, and that the children came to work there because securing personnel is difficult due to the high-intensity labor required. They added that claims of preferential treatment regarding voucher revenues are not true.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Kim Kwan-jin | Video by Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Jang Hyun-ki | Design by Seo Seung-hyun and Choi Jae-young

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