Kim Seung-won Calls Yang 'Respected, Close Junior' Amid 'Oppa' Lobbying Allegations

[Anchor]

Regarding Ms. Yang, who emerged in connection with the "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety lobbying suspicions," nominee Kim Seung-won explained today (Sept. 7) that she is "a successful female entrepreneur and a respected, close junior." Independent Representative Han Dong-hun, who has raised various suspicions regarding nominee Kim and Ms. Yang, fired back, calling it an "Oppa lobbying" scandal.

This is followed by a report from reporter Kim Jin-woo.

[Reporter]

Regarding Ms. Yang—who had requested via phone calls and text messages in 2021 that then-nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won urge the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to swiftly process the clinical trial plan approval for COVID-19 new drug developer Genencell—nominee Kim stated the following today:

[Kim Seung-won / Nominee for Minister of Justice: It is true that I first got to know Yang as a customer at places like restaurants and cafes frequently visited by legal professionals, and that we have maintained a relationship where I respect her as a successful female entrepreneur and consider her a close junior.]

Nominee Kim also acknowledged that he had represented Ms. Yang in her Labor Standards Act violation case.

According to the judgment at the time, Ms. Yang, who operated an entertainment bar in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, was indicted on charges of failing to pay severance wages to hostesses who worked there between 2007 and 2010, resulting in a finalized sentence-stayed ruling in 2013.

Later, Ms. Yang took office as the CEO of Company K, a cosmetics and pharmaceutical firm established in 2014.

According to prosecutors' indictment records, Ms. Yang—who made the request regarding the new drug approval to nominee Kim—is also a figure suspected by prosecutors of receiving compensation from Genencell in the form of a 600 million won investment into her Company K.

The battle between nominee Kim and Independent Representative Han Dong-hun, who has taken it upon himself to act as nominee Kim's sniper, has also intensified in earnest.

When nominee Kim targeted Representative Han, claiming that he was "launching political offensives through the leakage of investigative data" and demanding that he appear as a witness at the confirmation hearing, Representative Han countered by urging the National Assembly Speaker to appoint him as a confirmation committee member, and took a jab at nominee Kim and Ms. Yang with the following remarks:

[Han Dong-hun / Independent Representative: Would they do that for you if you weren't an 'oppa'? Is life too sad for those without a younger brother? Are you unable to run a pharmaceutical company if you don't have an 'oppa'?]

The Democratic Party, which has formed a "Response Team for Representative Han," argued, "Representative Han is selectively cutting and piecing together data to exaggerate suspicions," calling it "the devil's editing characteristic of political prosecutors."

(Video by: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing: Jeon Min-gyu | Design: Lee Ga-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.