Han Dong-hoon Claims "Successful Lobbying," Accused of "Political Offensive by Selective Editing"

[Anchor]

Moving forward with our verification reports on ministerial nominees, independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon has released additional call transcripts regarding the "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety solicitation suspicion" involving Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, claiming it was "successful lobbying." In response, nominee Kim's side countered that lawmaker Han is cutting parts of the conversation out of context to launch a political offensive.

Here is reporter Kim Kwan-jin with the details.

[Reporter]

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon claimed there is another call transcript between Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won and a broker surnamed Yang regarding suspicions of solicitation for the approval test of the COVID-19 treatment developed by Genencell.

According to Han, during their first phone call on October 12, 2021, two weeks prior to the approval of the new drug clinical trials, nominee Kim asked broker Yang about the responsible department at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, saying, "We need to grant phase 3 approval quickly so we can see the results anyway. I will ask the Minister directly to look into it."

In the second call, when Yang reportedly said, "It won't just stop at the division head level," nominee Kim answered, "Blocked at the division head level? Understood," according to Han's claims.

Han also claimed that a text message sent by the secretary of the Minister of Food and Drug Safety to the responsible division head at the time included the message, "The Minister will look into it, but make sure such talk doesn't come from that side again," asserting that this constitutes "successful lobbying that reached down to the working-level staff."

Nominee Kim's side refuted the claims, stating that lawmaker Han is "twisting civil complaint verification into pressure for approval by cutting the transcripts before and after," and that "what the nominee requested was an inspection and report on the review status."

The Democratic Party also demanded that the source of how the investigative materials, text messages, and transcripts were obtained be disclosed first.

[Kim Dong-ah / Democratic Party Lawmaker : We are filing a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon and an unidentified provider for illegally acquiring and misusing unpublicized investigative records for political strife and political maneuvering.]

Meanwhile, the People Power Party raised suspicions regarding a social cooperative connected to nominee Kim's family.

Lawmaker Joo Jin-woo claimed that after the cooperative, where nominee Kim's spouse serves as director, relocated in 2022 from Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to Suwon—nominee Kim's constituency—it was selected as a service provider for developmentally disabled activities by Suwon City, increasing government voucher revenues that did not exist before 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 pocketed over 330 million won in salaries.]

In response, nominee Kim's side countered that selection as a Suwon City service provider was determined through open recruitment and review, and that their children came to work there because securing personnel is difficult due to the high-intensity labor required, adding that claims of preferential voucher revenue are untrue.

(Camera Reporter : Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editor : Jang Hyun-ki | Design : Seo Seung-hyun, Choi Jae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.