Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, said he could not properly assess the efficacy of Genencell's COVID-19 treatment because he majored in the humanities, responding to allegations that he lobbied to help the drug clear clinical trials. Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon sharply criticized the remark, asking whether the nominee was insulting humanities majors nationwide.
At a confirmation hearing held by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 15th, Kim Min-jeon, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, said animal testing for the COVID-19 treatment developed by Genencell had been fabricated. Kim Seung-won replied, "I am a humanities major. There is no way for me to know things like the efficacy of a treatment." Kim Min-jeon shot back, "Can't humanities majors even read a court ruling?"
Kim Seung-won said the request he passed along "was to look into unfairness in the procedure." He added, "I understand that specialist officials at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reviewed it, and that it went ahead after an advisory committee determined the procedures related to the clinical trial were appropriate."
Asked for his position on the fact that a court ruling had confirmed the clinical trial data for the Genencell treatment was fabricated, Kim Seung-won said, "That part is not an area for me to take on or judge." He added, "After passing on the request on Oct. 12, 2021, I had no involvement whatsoever afterward."
Kim Seung-won faces allegations that he contacted Kim Kang-lip, then commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, in 2021 to exert improper influence to win approval for clinical trials of Genencell's COVID-19 treatment.
Additional allegations have been raised that a former chief executive of Genencell submitted false documents to the ministry while concealing that test animals had died during the clinical trial process.
In a post on social media, Han Dong-hoon criticized the nominee's explanation, writing, "Does being a humanities major make it acceptable to lobby through a sibling to push through poison? Is he insulting humanities majors nationwide?" He added, "It is even worse that he lobbied for poison as his younger sister the broker told him to, even while 'not knowing because he is a humanities major.'"
