Lawmakers from the ruling bloc on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee said a prosecution investigation into Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won over alleged lobbying tied to COVID-19 drug clinical trials was launched "to tie in President Lee Jae-myung."
Committee Chair Suh Young-kyo and Kim Eui-kyeom, the Democratic Party's committee secretary, told a news conference at the National Assembly on the 13th that "shocking circumstances have emerged showing that the prosecution under Han Dong-hoon sought to draw in Lee Jae-myung, then the opposition leader, from the earliest stage of the investigation into nominee Kim."
They cited a prosecution investigation report disclosed in media coverage that day. The report is said to have included Kim's political career, his ties to Lee and his points of contact with figures involved in the Daejang-dong development project. The lawmakers took particular issue with passages noting that Kim had been part of the defense team for lawyer Nam Wook and that he had joined Lee's presidential campaign. They also said the report linked Kim to Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, through alumni networks at Suwon Suseong High School.
The lawmakers said the material was "entirely unrelated to the substance of the food and drug safety case," adding that it showed "a persistence in trying to find a connection to the opposition leader, now President Lee Jae-myung, even in a case with no relevance whatsoever."
They also pointed to remarks by a prosecutor during the investigation as evidence of a targeted probe. "Nominee Kim testifies that he was told by the prosecutor in charge that he would 'make sure to strip lawmaker Kim Seung-won of his position,'" they said. "It can only be seen as an investigation with a predetermined conclusion, aimed from the outset at destroying Kim Seung-won, digging through everything and targeting the opposition and party leader Lee Jae-myung."
The lawmakers also questioned how the case was reassigned within the prosecution. They noted that the case against Kim was initially assigned to the Food and Drug Crime Investigation Division at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office before being reassigned to Criminal Division 5 in September 2023, and they held Rep. Han Dong-hoon, then justice minister, responsible.
"When Lee Jin-dong, a prosecutor aligned with Yoon Suk-yeol, took office as head of the Western District Prosecutors' Office, the case was suddenly reassigned to Criminal Division 5, the office's special investigation unit," they said. "Was it not a push, through the prosecutor general appointed in that reshuffle, to move the case from the food and drug crime division to the special investigation unit and build it into a case that would sweep up opposition lawmakers?"
The ruling bloc plans to examine the full scope of the investigation through Kim's confirmation hearing. "The suppression of the opposition through investigations under then-Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon has been clearly confirmed," they said. "Through this hearing, we will clearly establish the illegal targeted investigation of nominee Kim and lay bare before the public the abuse of prosecutorial power and the political maneuvering behind it."
