Allegations of improper solicitation raise doubts about Kim's fitness to serve as justice minister
Suspicions surrounding Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won continue to mount after it was revealed following his nomination that he had previously been investigated by prosecutors.
In October 2021, Kim, then a first-term Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, was investigated for allegedly requesting the then head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to approve clinical trials for a COVID-19 drug developed by Genencell, at the request of a female broker surnamed Yang, who was also an acquaintance of his. In December 2024, prosecutors decided not to indict him.
Yang is on trial on charges of promising to give Kim a bribe. According to her indictment, as reported by the media, the founder and largest shareholder of Genencell, identified as Kang, asked Yang to have the clinical trial approved quickly. Yang then asked Kim to make the request to the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Yang referred to Kim as “oppa (older brother)” among other terms of familiarity. The clinical trial was approved just two weeks after Kim asked Kim Kang-lip, then head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, to expedite the process.
Kim Seung-won maintains that there was no wrongdoing, noting that the case underwent an extensive investigation for about three years under former President Yoon Suk Yeol, a former member of the current opposition People Power Party. He says that he merely conveyed a public-interest grievance.
According to Yang’s indictment, however, Kim told her that the maximum political contribution was 5 million won, saying, in effect, “If things work out, that’s all you need to do.” When she told Kim that Kang would make a political donation, Kim gave her his bank account number and even thanked her. However, Kim had already reached his annual limit for political donations, and the transfer Yang mentioned was never made.
Also shocking is a selfie taken by Yang at a Korean restaurant in Seoul in February 2022, with Kim, the Genencell founder, and a judge who handled the review of an arrest warrant against Kang.
Kim had worked with the judge when he was a judge himself. When the judge took charge of Kang’s case, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office petitioned the Supreme Court to recuse the judge over concerns of conflict of interest, but the petition was rejected. The judge denied an arrest warrant for Kang. Later, a different judge issued an arrest warrant for him.
More serious, however, was the fact that the stock price of Sejong Medical, which became Genencell’s largest shareholder after Kang sold his shares before the clinical trial was approved, soared on the positive news of the approval before plunging after it became known that negative results from animal trials had been concealed. Investors suffered heavy losses.
Phone calls and text messages exchanged between Yang and Kim, made public by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, suggest that Kim may have been aware, before making the request to the head of the ministry, that the clinical trial approval could benefit Genencell's share price, and that he could also benefit from it.
A reinvestigation is needed to determine whether Kim’s alleged improper solicitation was linked to stock price manipulation. Prosecutors reportedly initially planned to indict Kim and seek an eight-month prison sentence, so it is also necessary to determine how he ended up receiving a suspension of indictment.
A lawmaker conveyed an acquaintance’s request to the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, who effectively instructed his staff to accommodate the request. It was Yang who prompted Kim to “convey” what he called a “petition” to the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. No one expects that he would have done the same if the petitioner had been someone other than Yang.
The public now questions whether Kim is qualified to hold any public office, let alone serve as justice minister.
khnews@heraldcorp.com
