Rival Parties Clash Head-on Over Alleged Ministry Lobbying by Minister Nominee

[Anchor]

During a full meeting of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee held this morning (September 11), People Power Party lawmakers launched intensive attacks regarding allegations that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won lobbied for the approval of a new drug clinical trial. Democratic Party lawmakers strongly pushed back, arguing that issues outside the agreed-upon agenda were being exploited for political strife.

Reporter Kim Jin-woo has the details.

[Reporter]

At the full meeting of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, attended by Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Minister Youkyung, among others.

Although the meeting was originally scheduled to discuss pending bills and question government ministries, People Power Party lawmakers focused their offensive on the allegations of lobbying for the approval of a new drug clinical trial involving Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won.

The People Power Party raised their voices, demanding that authorities uncover whether undue influence was exerted on the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to secure clinical trial approval for the COVID-19 drug in question.

[Choi Bo-yun / People Power Party Lawmaker: Are we left with no choice but to view the South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as a power-tailored regulatory agency that gives a free pass based on deficient paperwork with just a single phone call from an influential politician...?]

The Democratic Party protested, maintaining that suspicions surrounding nominee Kim should be addressed during his confirmation hearing.

[Soo-jin / Democratic Party Lawmaker: This is a place that deals with livelihood issues and matters closely connected to the public, and turning it into a political battleground right here is (something that cannot be tolerated).]

They also rebuked the People Power Party for running the Health and Welfare Committee for political disputes despite it not being an agreed-upon agenda item.

[Democratic Party Lawmaker: If this continues, there are no principles left!]

The People Power Party pressed further, asking whether the company in question had been rejected five times from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's research and development projects.

[Han Ji-a / People Power Party Lawmaker: The animal testing evaluation for the substance that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won allegedly lobbied to get phase 2 and 3 clinical trial approvals for was rejected five times.]

[Jeong Eun-kyeong / Minister of Health and Welfare: Making a preliminary judgment based on a different aspect, such as whether development can ultimately succeed, means that the evaluation criteria are different.]

Democratic Party committee members also demanded that People Power Party Chairperson Lee Man-hee restore order to the unruly meeting and set a separate date for alternative debates on the submitted bills.

(Video Editing: Nam Il)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.