[Anchor]

At a plenary meeting of the Health and Welfare Committee held at the National Assembly this morning (Sept. 11), People Power Party lawmakers launched a concentrated offensive 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 used for political strife.

Reporter Kim Jin-uh reports.

[Reporter]

The plenary meeting of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee took place with Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Minister Oh Yu-kyung in attendance.

Originally scheduled as a meeting for discussions with government ministries regarding bill reviews and other matters, People Power Party lawmakers instead focused their attacks on the alleged lobbying by Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won for the approval of a new drug clinical trial.

The People Power Party raised their voices, demanding clarity on whether improper influence was exerted on the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to approve clinical trials for the controversial COVID-19 treatment.

[Choi Bo-yun / People Power Party Lawmaker: How can we view this as anything other than a power-tailored regulatory agency where the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted a 'free pass' using substandard documents just because of a phone call from an influential politician...?]

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

[Lee Su-jin / Democratic Party Lawmaker: This is a place that handles people's livelihood issues and matters closely tied to the citizens, and bringing things here to turn them into political strife is (unacceptable).]

They also rebuked the People Power Party for running the Health and Welfare Committee for political contention despite it not being part of the agreed-upon agenda.

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

The People Power Party pressed on, asking whether the company in question had indeed 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 for which Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won allegedly lobbied to get Phase 2 and 3 clinical trial approvals was rejected five times.]

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

Democratic Party committee members also demanded that People Power Party Chairperson Lee Man-hee run an orderly meeting, calling for separate dates to be scheduled for alternative debates on the tabled bills.

(Video Reported by Shin Dong-hwan | Video Edited by Nam Il)