Kim Seung-won Explained It Was 'To Prevent Interference and Delays'... But the Company Conducted Fake Experiments

[Anchor]

We continue with our breaking news coverage on the personnel verification of a ministerial nominee. Justice Minister Nominee Kim Seung-won has explained regarding the suspicion of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety that his intention was to prevent the process from being delayed due to multinational companies obstructing domestic firms' development. However, Genencell, the new drug development company in question, has been revealed to have obtained a patent using fabricated data and submitted false experimental results when receiving clinical trial approval.

First, reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

Justice Minister Nominee Kim Seung-won held a doorstep Q&A with reporters today (September 7), four days later.

Regarding the suspicion of lobbying for the approval of clinical trial plans for Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer, he stated, "I should have been more cautious in conveying civil complaints," while adding the explanation, "I obtained answers through various channels that it could help treat COVID-19."

[Kim Seung-won / Justice Minister Nominee: There was also information that multinational companies were obstructing domestic pharmaceutical companies from developing COVID-19 treatments, so the intent was to have it processed swiftly….]

According to prosecutors' indictments and court rulings, Nominee Kim received a contact from a person surnamed Yang asking for help in expediting the process regarding approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and also received materials related to Genencell's clinical trials.

Later, Nominee Kim sent a text message to then-Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Chief Kim Gang-lip asking for prompt processing and stated, "I am worried about the outflow of national wealth."

Then, what was the reality of Genencell?

According to the first-instance ruling against Genencell founder Kang, founder Kang fabricated data as if hamster experiments had been conducted when they had not, in January 2021, to obtain a patent for a COVID-19 treatment ingredient.

Subsequently, during the clinical trial plan approval process, when the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation requested supplementary materials in June 2021, stating, "Data on the mechanism of action related to COVID-19 is insufficient," Genencell submitted manipulated data to gain approval.

While Nominee Kim's position is that he conveyed the civil complaint for COVID-19 treatment, the fact that there were problems with Genencell's patent acquisition and clinical approval was revealed through a court ruling in 2024.

Suspicions also linger that Nominee Kim's contact may have been one of the reasons why the authorities' verification, which should have caught the manipulated data, failed to function properly at the time.

This is because additional suspicions have been raised that following Nominee Kim's contact with the Minister of Food and Drug Safety, the Minister's secretary sent "pressuring text messages" to the frontline division head who held final decision-making authority over clinical trials within the ministry.

(Video Editing: Nam Il, Design: Yang Gi-tae, Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.