Kim: "If I become minister, I will first meet the victims of stock price manipulation."
No: “I was blinded by my relationship with my brother and was used for personal lobbying.”
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Bal-eum = Justice Minister candidate Kim Seung-won said on the 15th about the suspicion of lobbying for approval of COVID-19 clinical trials, "I regret whether I believed too much in the claim that the drug could be supplied in the 100,000 won range."
At the personnel hearing held at the National Assembly on this day, Candidate Kim said this when Rep. Kim Han-gyu of the Democratic Party of Korea asked, "If you could go back to that time, is there anything you wish you had handled differently?"
Candidate Kim said about the COVID-19 treatment from Genencell, a pharmaceutical company that has raised suspicions of solicitation, "Foreign treatments have a market price of 700,000 to 800,000 won, but I heard that this drug can be supplied for around 100,000 won."
He explained, “The unfortunate thing is that I think it would have been better if I had directed the work through my assistants,” adding, “There was also a sense of urgency in making the decision because the entire national capacity at the time was being focused on developing treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.”
When People Power Party lawmaker Kim Min-jeon pointed out the controversy over Genencell's manipulation of animal testing, candidate Kim Seung-won explained, "I am a liberal arts major. I cannot know the performance of treatments or anything like that."
He continued, "If I had known that, I wouldn't be here right now. A warrant would have been requested or he would be on trial right now," and added, "Even if we check everything, there is absolutely no evidence of involvement, so the prosecution said there was no illegal request and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety proceeded fairly, and prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol wrote the decision not to indict."
Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party said to Candidate Kim, "If someone else does it, is it a request? If I do it, is it forwarding of civil complaints?" He added, "I basically stipulate that it was not forwarding of public-interest public complaints and that the candidate was such an unassuming and good person that he was used for private lobbying."
He then pointed out, "The candidate was blinded by the relationship between 'oppa' and 'eong-ah' without any professional knowledge, and was used by (broker) Mr. Yang with a pure heart to make hundreds of billions of won."
Candidate Kim said that if he becomes Minister of Justice, he will be the first to meet victims of stock manipulation related to Genencell.
When Rep. Yoon pointed out, "Not knowing about the stock price manipulation is not proof of innocence, but proof of ineligibility as a ministerial candidate," Candidate Kim said, "I may not 100% agree with Rep.'s opinion, but as a public official, I will try to be more careful in my actions as one act can have many ramifications."
Candidate Kim said, "If I become minister, I will first meet with those who have suffered damage from stock price manipulation, look into the pain they have suffered and the cause of that pain, investigate those responsible if necessary, and see what is needed to recover from the damage."
He added, "If there had been any illegal activities under Yoon Seok-yeol's regime, I would not have been able to be here and would probably have been arrested or tried, but I hope you will understand once again that that was not the case."
