Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea, who chairs the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, mounted a defense of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won over allegations that he lobbied regulators to approve clinical trials for a COVID-19 treatment, saying the conduct "was not an improper solicitation." Seo also pushed back against suspicions that Kim expected something in return after passing along a political donation account number to the person who had petitioned him, saying: "The prosecutors who twisted this into a scheme to collect money are the bad actors here."
Speaking on YTN Radio's "Jang Sung-chul's News Myeongdang" on the 4th, Seo said of the text messages Kim had sent her: "If you read them closely, it becomes even clearer that this was not an improper solicitation or anything of the sort." She added, "I asked first what the matter was about, and he was in the middle of answering me."
On Kim's use of the word "regretful" in the messages, Seo said: "He wrote that it was not an improper solicitation and that this was why the case ended in a suspended indictment, and in writing that, he used the word 'regretful.'" She described the nominee as "a modest man," adding, "He did excellent work as the ruling party's floor manager on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. He is meticulous and courteous."
Seo also rejected the suggestion that Kim's passing along of a political donation account number amounted to seeking a payoff. "Politicians are legally permitted to receive donations, and political donation accounts are always open," she said. "I understand that at the time, Kim's political donations had essentially already hit the ceiling and no more could have been added."
"That was simply a procedure. If you say he sent the account number in order to collect money, it makes him look like a strange person," she said. "It was not compensation for helping with something."
She also said: "Eleven prosecutors were assigned to comb through this for three years, weren't they? And yet when you look at the substance, it was just one of the things politicians do."
"Everyone from the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on down was subjected to countless searches and seizures, and all of them were cleared," she added. "Kim was neither cleared nor indicted, and once those people were found not guilty, prosecutors handed down a suspended indictment as if to put a noose around his neck."
On Kim's request to the food and drug safety commissioner to "handle it quickly," Seo said: "Was he asking for it to be handled faster than other cases? Was he asking for the order to be changed so it would be handled faster? Or was he asking that the approval be granted by skipping steps in a case where approval was not going to be given?" She said, "The court ruling states that it was none of those things."
"He was not asking for it to be done faster than anyone else, nor for any approval steps to be skipped, and that is why the verdict was not guilty," she stressed again.
Addressing allegations of improper ties raised over a photograph showing Kim together with a judge responsible for reviewing arrest warrants, Seo said: "That photo was taken two years before the arrest warrant was rejected." She added, "If it had been taken around that time, do you think prosecutors would have let it go? They would have tied all of it together and sent him to trial on criminal charges."
