[Anchor]

We begin with allegations surrounding Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won and his suspected lobbying of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Kang Se-chan, the founder of the new drug development company Genencell, stated in an interview with SBS that an 11.3 billion won investment received by Genencell in 2021 was separate from the ministry's clinical trial approval. However, contrary to Kang's claims, prosecutors and the court of first instance concluded that he sought to gain personal profit through the approval.

Our first report comes from reporter Kim Deok-hyeon.

[Reporter]

On October 19, 2021, exactly a week after Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won asked the then-Minister of Food and Drug Safety for a "quick process" regarding the approval of Genencell's clinical trial plan for a new drug.

Genencell founder Kang Se-chan struck an 11.3 billion won deal with Sejong Medical, a company listed on the Kosdaq market.

Under the agreement, Sejong Medical acquired 660,000 shares held by Kang—representing 14 percent of all Genencell shares and worth 6.3 billion won—along with 5 billion won worth of Genencell convertible bonds.

Meeting with SBS, Kang claimed that this 11.3 billion won transaction was entirely separate from the approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

[Kang Se-chan / Genencell Founder: It is obviously a separate issue from the investment. The investment was made because people expected it to lead to commercialization. It's the ultimate potential value.]

He also claimed that the money received from selling his Genencell stake was entirely used for investment purposes, and that he actually suffered a loss.

[Kang Se-chan / Genencell Founder: After paying taxes, the rest was all reinvested. Rather, taking losses at the time to sell, reinvest, and try to grow this...]

However, prosecutors and the court of first instance viewed the matter differently.

The prosecutors' indictment stated that Kang intended to drive up Genencell's stock price through the clinical trial approval and secure personal gains by selling them. The first-instance tribunal also judged that Kang sought to obtain financial gains, such as attracting investments, taking advantage of the approval he received from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety by submitting false data, noting that the potential for criticism is high.

However, because the 11.3 billion won involving Kang was not included as criminal charges in the indictment brought by prosecutors, recovery measures such as confiscation or forfeiture cannot be carried out at this time.

Sejong Medical, which purchased the stake from Kang, was acquired the following year by Canary BioM, another Kosdaq-listed firm.

Sejong Medical's assets were used to purchase 130 billion won worth of affiliates' stakes and bonds from Canary, leading to its delisting from the stock market.

Regarding the stock manipulation allegations raised later in connection with Canary BioM, nominee Kim's side stated today (the 9th), that the stock manipulation and delisting incidents occurred nine months after Kim contacted the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, making them "completely separate issues" unrelated to the nominee.

Nominee Kim did not provide any specific answers to reporters' questions on his way to work today.

[Kim Seung-won / Minister of Justice Nominee: The personnel hearing preparation team will explain step by step until the day of the confirmation hearing. You must not do this.]

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reported by Yang Hyun-chul | Video Edited by Seunghee Lee | Design by Kim Han-gil)