Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won is increasingly cornered as he struggles to shake off allegations that he lobbied on behalf of a new drug. Kim and the Democratic Party of Korea say the matter was closed years ago when prosecutors ended their investigation with a suspended indictment, but unresolved questions keep surfacing and public opinion continues to sour regardless of the legal reading. A review of the allegations raised in recent days shows four lines of questioning that remain open, involving a process in which the lobbying case extended into alleged stock manipulation.
Stock Traders Moved Alongside the Lobbying — Did Kim Know?
According to political sources on the 9th, Rep. Han Dong-hoon, an independent lawmaker who has been raising questions about the nominee's alleged influence-peddling day after day, told reporters on the 8th: "A week after 'oppa' [Kim] made a request to the head of the food and drug agency, a KOSDAQ-listed company, Sejong Medical, announced it was acquiring this pharmaceutical firm. The share price soared, then the value of the acquired stock fell to zero, and this year the company was delisted."
It was in October 2021 that Kim, acting on a request from a broker surnamed Yang, asked Kim Kang-lip, then head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, to expedite an investigational new drug (IND) application for Genencell. About a week after Kim's request was relayed, Sejong Medical invested 11.3 billion won in Genencell, and the IND was approved soon afterward. As Sejong Medical's share price climbed sharply during this period, investment partnerships and others suspected of being a stock manipulation ring dumped large volumes of shares they had held in advance, cashing out 18 billion won. The heavy selling sent the stock tumbling, leaving most minority shareholders with losses.
Kim said, "I only learned this time that Genencell was an unlisted company," but based on the recordings disclosed so far, some argue it is hard to conclude that he was entirely unaware of the interests surrounding Genencell. Yang told Kim that Genencell had attracted 30 billion won in investment, and Kim responded, "If the drug agency approves it, that means hundreds of billions of won to be made, right?" Kim also asked Yang to send him related materials. On Kim's "hundreds of billions of won" remark, Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party, the ruling party's chief negotiator on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, called it "diabolical editing," countering that the exchange was "a conversation in the vein of saying that because it is a big business that could earn hundreds of billions of won, he could not simply grant the request without question."
Poison or Cure — Could the Trial Have Proceeded Without Lobbying?
Questions have also been raised over whether Genencell's COVID-19 treatment, the subject of the alleged request, had proven efficacy at all. The question is whether the drug could have won IND approval through a normal review had Kim not made his "request call."
Genencell's submission of falsified data during the review has already been established in court in a related case. The company fabricated records to make it appear that it had conducted an experiment on hamsters infected with COVID-19 when it had not. In a separate animal study of the treatment, hamsters died and lung abnormalities appeared, but such unfavorable findings were deleted. Genencell's chief executive, surnamed Kang, was convicted at the first trial on related charges.
The treatment was ultimately suspended in 2023 after the company failed to recruit enough patients, and it has yet to be commercialized as a COVID-19 therapy. A whistleblower who first raised the Genencell allegations claimed that "it was originally a shingles treatment, not a COVID-19 treatment." People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk seized on that, saying, "A drug that made lab mice vomit and die nearly came out as a COVID treatment," and calling it the "oppa poison lobbying gate."
Prosecutors Weighed an Eight-Month Prison Term, Then Suspended the Indictment
Kim argues the allegations concern a matter already settled, closed with a suspended indictment during a prosecution investigation under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. But if the internal prosecution documents released by Han are accurate, the investigative team shifted considerably between its early assessment and its final disposition.
According to the material Han disclosed, the investigative team at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office questioned Kim in August 2024 and then reported to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and others a plan to indict him on charges of taking a bribe for mediation and to seek an eight-month prison term. The allegation was that he had sought to receive 5 million won from Kang, in the guise of a political donation, in return for the request to expedite clinical approval. But in December that year, after consultations with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and others, prosecutors granted Kim a suspended indictment.
The opposition argues that outside pressure may have played a role in how the investigative team's position reversed over four months. Though not directly related to the investigation of Kim, allegations have also surfaced that a senior judge surnamed Chung, who rejected a request for Kang's arrest warrant, had met with Kim, the broker Yang and others. On that point, however, Kim countered: "How could I, a first-term Democratic Party lawmaker under the Yoon Suk-yeol government, have pressured the prosecution into a suspended indictment?"
Will More Democratic 'Oppas' Emerge? How Far the Fallout Spreads
In the various transcripts Han has been releasing in installments, Yang is heard naming influential ruling-party politicians beyond Kim, day after day. Judging by the circumstances alone, questions arise that the clinical lobbying may not have stopped with Kim alone.
In a recording Han released the same day, Yang said, "I really know a lot of key figures in this administration," adding that "the food and drug agency chief and Rep. Choi Jae-sung, the former senior presidential secretary for political affairs, are quite close." He also made remarks naming other ruling-party figures, saying, "Rep. Song Young-gil is a fox, so you have to pay him to get him moving," and, "Han Byung-do, the party floor leader, is close to Choi Jae-sung, and Han Byung-do is close to Song Young-gil." Han said a Democratic Party "Rep. Kim," whose full name he did not disclose, also appears in the recordings, signaling further disclosures to come.
There are also claims that Yang was acquainted with People Power Party figures as well as Democrats, prompting suggestions that the controversy could spread to the opposition. It has also been disclosed that Yang received a certificate of appointment as "standing committee chair for a fair nation" from the People Power Party's election campaign headquarters in 2022.
Still, the individuals named deny any relationship with Yang, and there is no evidence that those politicians exerted influence in the lobbying process. Rep. Song Young-gil of the Democratic Party pushed back against Han's piecemeal approach to the allegations, saying, "They investigated exhaustively and came up with nothing, so they issued a suspended indictment — and now gathering the materials that came out of it, editing them and releasing them, is that the conduct of a National Assembly member?"
