Kim Seung-won denies wrongdoing over drug-trial allegations and challenges deferred prosecution

Justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won said he has no intention of using ministerial authority to cancel proceedings in a case involving President Lee Jae-myung. Speaking outside his confirmation-hearing preparation office in Seoul, Kim said the authority to maintain an individual prosecution rests with the trial prosecutor, not directly with the justice minister.

Kim said he had previously conveyed the public view that the state should correct prosecutions produced by illegal or manipulated investigations. But as a ministerial nominee, he said he would respect the authority of the prosecutor handling the trial and would not consider directing the prosecutor general over the case.

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I do not have direct authority to cancel the prosecution, nor do I intend to direct the prosecutor general through him.

He also rejected what he described as an unfair deferred-prosecution decision in an allegation involving a request related to approval of a clinical trial plan for a COVID-19 treatment. Kim said prosecutors conducted an intensive investigation over roughly three years, involving about 10 prosecutors, but did not indict him. He said the decision itself acknowledged that the conduct was difficult to view as improper solicitation and found no favoritism, special treatment or skipped procedures in the approval process.

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There was no improper act such as favoritism, convenience or skipping procedures in the clinical approval process.

Kim said prosecutors should have cleared him, but instead imposed deferred prosecution because he introduced a way to make a donation. He filed a constitutional complaint last year and said he wants to clear his name. His preparation team said the matter involved passing along a public-interest grievance to prevent delays affecting a small domestic company during the pandemic, not seeking a treatment approval. The team said no money, gifts or hospitality changed hands and that prosecutors did not establish that conveying the complaint was illegal.

Kim also said he had not substantively handled several sexual-crime cases taken by his law firm, although he accepted criticism that such work fell short of public expectations. On an allegation that he received part of staff salaries while leading the Democratic Party’s Gyeonggi branch, he said he was surprised by the report and had requested a central-party audit.

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I want to clear that sense of injustice to the end.