Kim Seung-won denies pressuring food regulator, calls Yang a successful businesswoman and close junior

Justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won said he should have handled the matter more cautiously, but firmly denied making an improper request to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety over approval of a new-drug clinical trial plan.

Speaking to reporters on July 7 outside his confirmation-hearing preparation office in Seoul, Kim said prosecutors had acknowledged that no fair review was distorted by an improper solicitation and that related individuals had been cleared of suspicion. He rejected claims that outside pressure led prosecutors to grant him a deferred indictment, asking how he could have pressured prosecutors when he was merely a first-term Democratic Party lawmaker under the Yoon Suk Yeol government.

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I take seriously that I should have acted more cautiously, but the conclusion is that I never made an improper solicitation to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Kim accused independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon of waging a political campaign by gradually leaking investigative materials to the media. He said the leak itself could warrant criminal punishment and challenged Han to appear as a witness at the hearing and take responsibility for his statements. Kim also questioned whether Han had lawfully obtained the materials, whether they matched the originals and whether their contents were truthful.

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The leak of investigative materials itself is grounds for criminal punishment.

He described the case as a typical example of what he called “prosecutorial cabinet politics” involving Han and former President Yoon. Kim said the investigation into him, which began in 2022, occurred alongside simultaneous investigations into Democratic lawmakers and followed a similar pattern.

Kim denied media reports suggesting he was involved in stock manipulation linked to pharmaceutical company Genencell. He said he had not even known the company was privately held and noted that, although an investigation reportedly began in 2023, authorities had never summoned him over three years. Regarding a call to the food regulator’s chief, Kim said he made only one call and exchanged messages that day, while maintaining a polite and neutral tone with an official he had never met. He acknowledged that he respected Yang, the businesswoman connected to the allegations, as a successful female entrepreneur and close junior. Kim also explained the relocation of his wife’s social cooperative, a past 700,000-won drunk-driving fine and reports that he had stayed out of public view because a family member had recently been critically ill.

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Yang is a successful female entrepreneur, and it is true that I have respected her and remained close to her as a junior colleague.