South Korean justice minister nominee Kim denies illegal lobbying
In South Korea, justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won denied allegations of an illegal solicitation regarding a COVID-19 drug in 2021. At the same time, he acknowledged that he should have been more cautious when relaying a request concerning the drug, The Korea Herald reports.
The essence of the allegations
The two-term lawmaker is accused of allegedly asking the then food and drug safety minister, at the request of an intermediary, to expedite approval of clinical trials for the drug. Kim told reporters that he had not made an illegal solicitation to the agency and that the review of the drug had not been conducted unfairly as a result of his request.
According to the nominee, he called the then minister to prevent an unjustified delay in the clinical trial procedure. Kim noted that drugs for treating COVID-19 were reviewed through an expedited process during the pandemic.
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The prosecution's position and Kim's response
Kim also referred to the fact that prosecutors postponed bringing charges against him. According to the publication, prosecutors had previously not formally charged Kim because they could not conclusively establish that his request constituted an illegal solicitation. He said that the minister and civil servants connected to the case had not been charged either.
Pressure on the nominee intensified after independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon released purported recordings of Kim's conversations with an intermediary about lobbying for the drug. Kim accused Han of leaking investigation materials as part of a politically motivated attack, questioned how the materials had been obtained, and demanded that the lawmaker appear at his appointment hearing.
