[Anchor]

The confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, which ended around midnight, merely reconfirmed existing allegations and the nominee's stance. Nominee Kim also stated regarding the efficacy of a new COVID-19 drug—at the center of allegations of improper solicitations to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety—that he did not know much about it because he was a humanities major.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon reports.

[Reporter]

The confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won was held at the National Assembly yesterday (September 15), lasting nearly 14 hours from 10 a.m.

People Power Party lawmakers pressed nominee Kim on whether he made an "improper solicitation" to the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2021 regarding the approval of a clinical trial plan for Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer.

Nominee Kim explained that he was merely "relaying a public-interest grievance" out of concern over a "drain of national wealth." However, when confronted with points that a first-instance court ruling had revealed that Genencell's animal testing had been distorted and falsified, he offered the following response:

[Kim Min-jeon / People Power Party Lawmaker: Isn't it already in the court ruling that distorted animal testing results were submitted to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety?]

[Kim Seung-won / Justice Minister Nominee: Lawmaker, I am a humanities major. Regarding the efficacy of that treatment and such... (Lawmaker: Can't humanities majors even read a court ruling?) ...I could not have known that.]

Regarding this "humanities major remark," Kim's side issued an additional statement explaining, "It meant that due to a lack of expertise in that field, he was unable to examine the details more prudently," adding, "We apologize for causing misunderstanding with inadequate phrasing."

Calls also emerged from the People Power Party demanding that Kim take responsibility for participants in clinical trials who were administered Genencell's new drug and for victims of suspected stock price manipulation.

[Yoon Sang-hyun / People Power Party Lawmaker: We define this as having been used for private lobbying. With such pure intentions, after being told 'I will help make hundreds of billions of won,' he was taken advantage of by a Mr. Yang. It is truly inappropriate.]

Democratic Party lawmakers emphasized that the case had already been concluded in December 2024 when prosecutors under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration granted nominee Kim a suspension of indictment, arguing that the leak of internal prosecution investigative records is a far more serious issue.

[Kim Dong-ah / Democratic Party Lawmaker: These are records that even the parties involved could never view, yet such details were leaked.]

[Kim Seung-won / Justice Minister Nominee: I believe it must be clarified how such confidential internal prosecutorial materials flowed to former Minister Han Dong-hoon...]

Nominee Kim also remarked, "There are aspects I regret."

[Kim Seung-won / Justice Minister Nominee: What I regret is that it might have been better to direct the work through aides. I do have some regrets now, wondering if I trusted them too much.]

(Video by Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing by Lee Seung-hee)