[Anchor]

The National Assembly confirmation hearing for Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won will be held tomorrow (September 15). There are numerous allegations to verify, including alleged lobbying of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, preferential hiring of the judge's son, and false address registration, but the hearing will proceed with only the nominee and not a single witness. Regarding nominee Kim's "alleged lobbying," it has also newly been revealed that the questionable new drug was actually administered to 93 people.

For our first report, here is reporter Ha Jeongyeon.

[Reporter]

Today, one day ahead of the National Assembly confirmation hearing, Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won repeatedly gave this response to reporters on his way to work.

[Kim Seung-won / Nominee for Minister of Justice: (How do you plan to explain the lobbying allegations and other issues during the hearing?) I will explain everything tomorrow. Perhaps if I talk about various things right now....]

As Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee Yong Hye-in stepped down yesterday, the People Power Party pressured the administration to withdraw nominee Kim's nomination even now.

[Jang Dong-hyeok / Leader of the People Power Party: Are you planning to present the public, ahead of Chuseok, with a "complete set of crimes"? Even now, Kim Seung-won's nomination must be immediately withdrawn.]

The Democratic Party dismissed the claims as groundless false propaganda and vowed to "defend nominee Kim."

[Han Byung-do / Floor Leader of the Democratic Party: Even if you repeat a "throw mud and see what sticks" style suspicion 100 times, false propaganda cannot substitute for verification.]

The core issue in verifying nominee Kim is the "alleged lobbying of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety."

The controversy centers on whether nominee Kim's actions in 2021—asking then-Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Minister Kim Gang-lip for "fast-track processing" regarding the approval of a clinical trial plan for a new Xenencell drug—were appropriate.

Clashing arguments continue between allegations of "illegal solicitation" and counterarguments that it was "delivering a public interest petition."

It was also additionally revealed that in 2022, after the new Xenencell drug received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the new drug or a placebo was administered to 93 COVID-19 patients during the clinical trial process.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated that no serious adverse drug reaction cases have been reported to date, but as Xenencell is suspected of omitting or fabricating data during the approval process, controversies surrounding the safety of clinical trials on humans are expected to grow.

The fact that nominee Kim hired as a legislative assistant the son of Judge Jeong, who dismissed the arrest warrant for Xenencell's founder, is also a key issue.

Due to the Democratic Party's refusal to adopt witnesses, tomorrow's hearing will proceed without witnesses, and attention is focused on how thoroughly the suspicions raised against nominee Kim will be clarified.

(Video Reported by Kim Yong-woo | Video Edited by Lee Seunghee | Design by Hwang Se-yeon)