Candidate Seung-won Kim's side refutes the release of the transcript of Rep. Dong-hoon Han by saying, 'Confirmation of civil complaints was transformed into pressure for approval.'

“Confirmation of civil complaints was transformed into pressure for approval… We investigated the reason for the delay in review.”

“The review period is also longer than average”… Q&A regarding suspicions on the way to work on the 7th

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Jae-hyun = Candidate Kim Seung-won, Minister of Justice, criticized the transcript released by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on the 6th while raising suspicions of lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, saying, "They are cutting the front and back of the recording and turning the confirmation of civil complaints into pressure for approval."

Candidate Kim's personnel hearing preparation team issued explanatory materials on this day and stated, "What the candidate requested from the Minister of Food and Drug Safety was not approval, but inspection and reporting of the review status."

The preparation team explained that in a phone call with his acquaintance, Mr. Yang, Candidate Kim said, "I will ask the Minister to take a look at it directly," and "I will ask you to report it," and even after talking to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety, he said, "They said they will check first and report back to me, so just wait a little."

At the same time, he claimed, “There is no request for unconditional approval, relaxation of review standards, or omission of procedures anywhere in the recording.”

The preparation team pointed out that Rep. Han only highlighted the part where Candidate Kim responded, "I'm blocked from the manager line? Okay," to Mr. Yang's statement, "They say I won't cross the manager line."

Prior to this, Mr. Yang did not disclose the explanation that the review was being delayed due to the people in charge avoiding responsibility, saying, "It doesn't matter if it's late, but I need to know the reason, so please find out."

The preparation team also emphasized that Candidate Kim's reply to Mr. Yang's explanation, "Okay, I understand, because it is also related to the leakage of national wealth," meant to confirm the reason for the delay in the review, and could not be interpreted as meaning that he would exert pressure on the manager in charge to obtain approval.

Kim Kang-lip, then Minister of Food and Drug Safety, responded to Candidate Kim by saying, "I have forwarded this to the working-level staff so that they can take good care of it," which he refuted as a normal procedure for delivering complaints.

The preparation team stated, "There is no fact that the candidate contacted the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety staff or the manager in charge directly," and added, "In order to claim this as 'successful lobbying,' it must be confirmed that the review order or standards were changed or special measures were taken due to the delivery of the complaint."

During the investigation, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety employees stated that they had not received any special instructions or made any special reports, and it was also emphasized that former Director Kim and related employees were all cleared of charges.

The preparation team explained that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's review at the time was also conducted in accordance with existing procedures and standards.

According to the preparation team, Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer, applied for approval of the clinical trial plan on September 23, 2021, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety requested supplementation on the 30th of the same month.

Even after Candidate Kim contacted us on October 12, final supplementary materials were submitted on the 18th of the same month and approval was made on the 26th after an expert advisory meeting on the 22nd.

The preparation team argued that the number of days required for review of Genencell according to the official standards of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was 11 days, which was longer than the average of 8.8 days for other new COVID-19 treatments, and that "the claim that the review was accelerated due to contact from the candidate does not match the objective review record."

In addition, the fact that Candidate Kim asked Mr. Yang about the name of the company and the department in charge during the phone call was not consistent with the claim that he coordinated lobbying with the company in advance.

The preparation team urged, “We hope to stop the political offensive that distorts public interest complaints into illegal lobbying by removing the entire context.”

Candidate Kim is scheduled to go to the confirmation hearing preparation office at Jeokseon Hyundai Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul at 9:30 a.m. on the 7th and answer questions with reporters.

This is expected to be his first official position to directly address the allegations raised since his first day at work on the 3rd. This is interpreted as a determination to confront various suspicions, including lobbying battles.