The camp of Kim Seung-won, nominee for Minister of Justice, addressed the transcript released by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon regarding the alleged "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety lobbying," pointing out that "the recording has been selectively edited to twist a civil complaint inquiry into pressure for approval."

The personnel hearing preparation team for nominee Kim released a press briefing statement today (the 6th), stating, "What the nominee requested from the Minister of Food and Drug Safety was not approval, but a review and report on the status of the screening."

The preparation team explained that in a phone call with his acquaintance, Mr. Yang, nominee Kim said, "Have the Minister look into it directly," and "I will ask them to report back." They added that after speaking with the Food and Drug Safety Minister, Kim also told Yang, "For now, they said they will check and report back to me, so please wait a moment."

The team asserted, "Nowhere in the transcript is there any demand for unconditional approval, relaxed review criteria, or bypassed procedures."

The preparation team pointed out that lawmaker Han only highlighted the part where Mr. Yang said, "They say it's not getting past the section chief level," and nominee Kim replied, "Blocked at the section chief level? Understood."

They noted that Han omitted the preceding part where Mr. Yang explained, "It doesn't matter if it's delayed, but I need to know the reason, so please find out," explaining that the screening was being delayed due to officials evading responsibility.

The preparation team also emphasized that nominee Kim's response to Mr. Yang's explanation—"Okay, understood, since it's also related to the outflow of national wealth"—was intended to check the reasons for the screening delay, and cannot be interpreted as exerting pressure on the responsible section chief to secure approval.

They also rebutted that the response from then-Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Gang-lip to nominee Kim—"I have instructed the working-level staff to take good care of it"—was part of a routine civil complaint processing procedure.

The preparation team emphasized, "The nominee never directly contacted the working-level staff or responsible section chief at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety," adding, "To claim this was 'successful lobbying,' it must be verified that the relay of the civil complaint actually changed the screening order or criteria, or led to special measures."

They also highlighted that during the investigation, Food and Drug Safety Ministry officials testified that they received no separate instructions or made no special reports, and that former Minister Kim and related officials were all cleared of charges.

The preparation team explained that the screening by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety at the time was also conducted according to existing procedures and standards.

According to the preparation team, Genexine, a COVID-19 treatment developer, applied for clinical trial plan approval on September 23, 2021, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety requested supplementary data on the 30th of the same month.

Even after nominee Kim made contact on October 12, the approval was granted on October 26, following the final submission of supplementary data on October 18 and an expert advisory meeting on the 22nd of the same month.

The preparation team argued that the screening period for Genexine according to the official standards of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was 11 days, which is longer than the 8.8-day average for other new-substance COVID-19 treatments, stating, "The claim that the screening was brought forward due to the nominee's contact does not match the objective screening records."

Furthermore, they stated that the fact that nominee Kim asked Mr. Yang for the company name and responsible department again during the call contradicts the claim that he coordinated with the company in advance to act as a proxy for lobbying.

The preparation team urged, "We hope you will stop the political offensive that distorts a public interest civil complaint into illegal lobbying by deleting the overall context."

Nominee Kim is scheduled to arrive at the personnel hearing preparation office in Jeokseon-Hyundai Building, Jongno-gu, Seoul, at 9:30 AM tomorrow (the 7th) and hold a Q&A session with reporters.

This is expected to be his first official setting to directly state his position regarding the suspicions raised since his first commute on the 3rd.