Han Dong-hoon: "Kim Seung-won Mentioned Making 'Hundreds of Billions' the Moment It Gets Approved"

[Anchor]

Nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won has responded to allegations of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, explaining that he merely forwarded a grievance petition for public interest purposes. However, Independent Representative Han Dong-hoon strongly refuted this, claiming there is a call recording between the nominee and a broker. Representative Han claimed that the nominee remarked that hundreds of billions of won could be made once the clinical trials for the new drug are approved.

Reported by Kim Kwan-jin.

[Reporter]

According to the prosecution's indictment, on October 6, 2021, Kang, the head of Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer, asked a broker named Yang to "use political connections to quickly get approval for the new drug's clinical trials."

On the following days, the 7th and 8th, Yang conveyed this request to Nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won through phone calls and text messages. Four days later, on the 12th, Nominee Kim asked then-Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Gang-lip for a prompt process.

Two weeks later, on October 26, the clinical trials for the new drug were approved.

Regarding the lobbying allegations, Nominee Kim's side has maintained that he "merely conveyed a grievance petition for the public interest to fairly review the clinical trial procedures."

However, Independent Representative Han Dong-hoon raised suspicions today, claiming that a transcript of a phone call between Nominee Kim and Yang exists, containing different circumstances.

Representative Han claimed that during a phone call on September 14, 2021, when broker Yang described Genencell CEO Kang to Nominee Kim by saying, "It would be good for your brother's election, and this person will soon become the CEO of a listed company with smooth financing, someone who will be a strength to your brother," Nominee Kim replied, "Shall we meet right after Chuseok then?"

Representative Han added that on October 7 of the same year, when Yang said, "Investment of 30 billion won has already been secured," Nominee Kim responded, "The moment it gets approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, you're basically making hundreds of billions."

According to the 2024 first-instance ruling on Genencell CEO Kang's charges of obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means, Kang created false data as if therapeutic effects had been confirmed without conducting animal experiments, and omitted side effects of the new drug identified in separate experiments.

The first-instance court, which found Kang guilty, rebuked that he attempted to obtain personal gain by receiving clinical trial approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety using false patents and experimental data, and then selling his shares in Genencell after boosting their price.

One week before the clinical trial approval, Sejong Medical, a KOSDAQ-listed company, bought 660,000 shares of Kang's Genencell for 6.3 billion won and also signed a contract to acquire convertible bonds worth 5 billion won.

According to the ruling, Kang told Yang at the time that "Sejong Medical's stock price will rise" and had him buy the stocks in advance, saying, "I will send you 100 million won, so let's split the returns."

On October 27, 2021, when the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's clinical trial approval was made public, Sejong Medical's stock price surged more than 15% at one point before plunging to the lower limit.

Nominee Kim's side did not release any specific explanation regarding the transcript claimed by Representative Han.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Oh Young-chun and Kim Yong-woo | Video by Seunghee | Graphics by Kang Yun-jung and Kim Min-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.