Exclusive: Kim Seung-won Appears to Have Told Drug Agency to Send New-Drug Report Through Blue House

A recording obtained by Hankyoreh appears to challenge Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won’s explanation of his involvement in a 2021 COVID-19 drug trial approval. In the recording, a businessman involved in the approval process says Kim told the head of South Korea’s Food and Drug Safety Ministry to submit a report through the Blue House.

The recording was made on Oct. 12, 2021, between the founder of GenNCell and the businessman, who allegedly acted as a broker during the clinical-trial approval process. The businessman says Kim had told the ministry chief to “submit a report through the Blue House,” adding that once the chief spoke, the report would be prepared and Kim would review it if it came from the Blue House. He also says the Blue House controlled the process and that an upcoming change of administration and organizational reshuffle meant officials could not ignore it.

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He said the minister should submit a report through the Blue House.

Prosecutors who investigated the case reportedly examined how the Blue House report mentioned in the recording had been produced. Kim was not a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee at the time, but he raised GenNCell’s clinical-trial approval issue with the then food and drug safety chief. The agency subsequently appears to have prepared a related document and reported it to the Blue House.

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I contacted the food and drug safety chief only to pass along a public complaint.

Investigators reportedly viewed the document as important in determining how far Kim’s request went, what instructions the former agency chief gave subordinates, and whether the process exceeded ordinary handling of a public complaint. Prosecutors ultimately did not apply an abuse-of-authority charge to Kim. In December 2024, they also issued a deferred indictment on other allegations, including an alleged promise of intermediation bribery.

Kim’s preparatory team said on the 4th that he contacted the agency chief only to pass along a public complaint. Kim said he did not check the approval decision or intervene in the review after conveying the chief’s response to the complainant, and that he had no separate contact with working-level officials. The newly reported recording has renewed questions over whether a Blue House report was actually prepared and whether it reached Kim through the presidential office.

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After conveying the food and drug safety chief’s response to the complainant, I did not check whether approval was granted or become involved in the review process, and I had no separate contact with working-level officials.