"Kim Seung-won is My Mentor"... Three-Way Selfie Surfaces, Including Warrant Judge

[Anchor]

Contradicting explanations that it was merely relaying a civil petition rather than illicit lobbying, a photo has been released showing three individuals together: ministerial nominee Kim, a broker surnamed Yang, and the incumbent judge who dismissed the arrest warrants for the CEO of a COVID-19 experimental drug developer.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin sheds light on the relationship among these three individuals.

[Reporter]

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

It is estimated to have been taken in February 2022, about a year before prosecutors launched an investigation into allegations that lobbying was conducted to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regarding an experimental drug.

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

Judge Jeong previously dismissed the arrest warrant for Kang, the CEO of the drug developer that had received clinical trial approval, back in 2023.

Prosecutors subsequently re-requested an arrest warrant; the second review was handled by a different warrant judge, and Kang's arrest warrant was issued.

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon claimed that the investigation team at the time had identified the relationship among the three individuals, pointing to text messages showing nominee Kim calling Judge Jeong to a drinking gathering with Yang during the probe. He also claimed that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had previously asked the Supreme Court to exclude Judge Jeong from the warrant review, but the request was rejected.

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

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

In 2011, after nominee Kim opened his private practice as an attorney, Yang was indicted on charges of failing to pay severance wages to employees while operating an entertainment bar in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. According to the rulings from that time, nominee 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 2021, the company had already been holding preliminary consultations in accordance with the ministry's review procedures, and that clinical trial approval was not expedited due to Kim's contact.

(Camera: 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.