Exclusive: Genexel Founder Denies Contact with Kim Seung-won, Says He Would Have Donated the Following Year if Needed

The founder of Genexel, a company developing a COVID-19 treatment, has fully denied allegations that he lobbied Kim Seung-won over regulatory approval for a clinical trial. In an interview with the Hankyoreh, the founder said he had never even spoken with the nominee for justice minister.

The founder said he discussed delays in the Korea Food and Drug Administration’s review process with businessman Yang, whom he knew from their shared university background. South Korean regulators had announced that clinical trials for new COVID-19 treatments would receive an expedited review within 15 days, he said, but Genexel’s application continued to face delays.

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I have never even spoken with candidate Kim Seung-won.

When the founder said he hoped the matter would be handled according to the rules, Yang replied that he might be able to help. Yang then asked whether he should speak with Kim, who was an assembly member at the time. The founder said he agreed, but insisted that communication through Yang had been limited and that he only learned later that a complaint had supposedly been passed along.

Prosecutors have indicted the founder and Yang on allegations that the founder promised Kim 5 million won in return for help obtaining approval for the clinical trial plan. The founder said he never made such a promise and that no one received a promise from him. He acknowledged that Yang suggested making a political donation to Kim and said he tried to do so, but the payment failed because the annual contribution limit had already been reached.

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If I had promised the donation, I would have made it in January of the following year.

“If I had promised the donation, I would have made it in January of the following year,” the founder said, explaining that he had only considered contributing because Yang asked him to do so as a personal favor. He also faces allegations that data from clinical trials were manipulated, including by deleting references to the deaths of laboratory animals.

The founder denied concealing the deaths or presenting false data. He said he asked the testing institution to record the information at the top of the report if it was considered necessary, but that the request was not reflected. In December 2024, a first-instance court convicted him of obstruction of official duties and violating the Capital Markets Act, including the use of undisclosed important information, and sentenced him to three years in prison suspended for five years.

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I did not present false data or try to conceal the death of an animal.