"Kim Seung-won is My Eternal Mentor": The Controversial 'Three-Way Selfie'

[Anchor]

Let us take a closer look into the allegations surrounding nominee Kim Seung-won and his suspected lobbying of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. A broker surnamed Yang, who sent a text message to nominee Kim back in 2021 asking for a swift processing of a clinical trial, had even referred to Kim as her eternal mentor. A photo showing nominee Kim, Yang, and a sitting judge together has also been unveiled. The judge is the one who previously dismissed the arrest warrant for the CEO of a pharmaceutical company implicated in the lobbying suspicions.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin looked into the relationship between these three individuals.

[Reporter]

This is a photo of nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won taken alongside a woman and a man.

It is estimated to have been taken in February 2022, about a year before the prosecution launched an investigation into the suspected case of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regarding a new drug.

The woman to nominee Kim's left is Yang, who in October 2021 sent a text message to Kim asking him to urge the then-Minister of Food and Drug Safety to swiftly process the clinical trial approval for a new COVID-19 treatment. The man to his right is Judge Jung, who was in charge of issuing warrants at the Seoul Western District Court at the time of the prosecution's investigation.

Judge Jung previously dismissed an arrest warrant in 2023 for Kang, the CEO of the development company that received clinical trial approval for the new drug.

The prosecution subsequently refiled for an arrest warrant, and the second review was handled by a different warrant judge, leading to the approval of Kang's arrest warrant.

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon claimed today that the investigation team at the time had identified the relationship among the three individuals, as text messages emerged showing nominee Kim inviting Judge Jung to a drinking gathering with Yang during the investigation. Han also claimed that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had requested the Supreme Court to exclude Judge Jung from the warrant review, but the request was rejected.

[Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker: If this does not align with the facts, would not Judge Jung, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, or lawmaker Kim Seung-won issue even a single word of rebuttal?]

On social media where she posted the photo in question, Yang claimed that she first met nominee Kim in 2004 when he was a judge, writing that he is "my eternal mentor." Regarding Judge Jung, she wrote that she met him while exercising together.

In 2011, after nominee Kim had opened a private law practice, Yang was indicted on charges of failing to pay severance to employees while operating an entertainment bar in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. According to the judgment at the time, Kim served as Yang's defense counsel.

Nominee Kim's side explained that four months before Kim contacted the then-Minister of Food and Drug Safety in October 2004 - [Editor's Note: reflecting source text accurately] the company had already been holding preliminary consultations in accordance with the Ministry's review procedures, and that the clinical trial approval was not expedited due to Kim's contact.

(Camera reporting: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki | Design: Choi Jae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.