Kim Seung-won's Camp: "Han Dong-hoon Snipped Recording... Turning Check on Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Inquiry into Pressure"

Regarding the transcript released by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, who raised suspicions of "lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)," the camp of Justice Minister Nominee Kim Seung-won pointed out, "They are cutting the context before and after the recording, turning a routine check on a civil complaint into pressure for approval."

The preparation team for Nominee Kim's confirmation hearing issued an official press release today (September 6) and stated, "What the nominee requested of the MFDS Minister was not approval, but a review and report on the status of the screening."

The preparation team explained that in a phone call with an acquaintance surnamed Yang, Nominee Kim said, "Have the Minister take a direct look at it," and "I'll ask them to report back," and added, "Since they said they would check and report back to me first, please wait a moment."

They claimed, "Nowhere in the recording is there a demand for unconditional approval, relaxation of review standards, or the omission of procedures."

The preparation team pointed out that lawmaker Han only highlighted the part where Nominee Kim replied, "Blocked at the section chief level? I see," to Yang's remark that "it is not moving past the section chief level."

They added that prior to this, Yang explained that "it doesn't matter if it gets delayed, but I need to know the reason, so please look into it," noting that the review was being delayed due to officials shirking responsibility, and that this context was not disclosed.

The preparation team also emphasized that Nominee Kim's response to Yang's explanation—saying, "Okay, I see, since it is also related to the outflow of national wealth"—was intended to check the reasons for the review delay, and cannot be interpreted as exerting pressure on the responsible section chief to secure approval.

They also rebutted that the remark made by then-MFDS Minister Kim Gang-lip to Nominee Kim, "I have instructed the working-level staff to take good care of it," was a standard procedure for forwarding civil complaints.

The preparation team emphasized, "The nominee never directly contacted the working-level staff or the responsible section chief at the MFDS," adding, "To claim this was 'successful lobbying,' it must be verified that the forwarding of the complaint changed the order or standards of the review or resulted in special measures."

They also highlighted that during the investigation, MFDS employees testified that they received no separate instructions or special reports, and that former Minister Kim and related employees were all cleared of charges.

The preparation team explained that the MFDS review at the time proceeded in accordance with existing procedures and standards.

According to the preparation team, Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer, applied for approval of its clinical trial plan on September 23, 2021, and the MFDS requested supplementary data on the 30th of the same month.

Even after October 12, when Nominee Kim made the contact, approval was granted on October 26 after submitting final supplementary data on October 18 and holding an expert advisory meeting on October 22.

The preparation team claimed, "The number of days taken for Genencell's review based on official MFDS standards was 11 days, which is longer than the 8.8-day average for other new-substance COVID-19 treatments," adding, "The objective review records do not match the claim that the review was expedited due to the nominee's contact."

They also stated that given how Nominee Kim asked Yang to reiterate the company name and the responsible department during the call, the claim that he pre-arranged with the company to act as a proxy for lobbying does not add up.

The preparation team urged, "We hope you will stop the political offensive that distorts public interest complaints into illegal lobbying by deleting the overall context."

Nominee Kim is scheduled to commute to the confirmation hearing preparation office at the Jeokseon Hyundai Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, at 9:30 AM tomorrow (September 7) and conduct a Q&A session with reporters.

This is expected to be his first official occasion to directly express his stance on the suspicions raised since his first day on the job on September 3.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.