Justice minister nominee denies illegal COVID-19 treatment lobbying allegations
Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won on Monday denied allegations of illegal lobbying for a COVID-19 treatment in 2021, while acknowledging he should have been more careful in his request over the medication at the time. Kim, a two-term lawmaker, has faced accusations of unlawful solicitation for allegedly asking the then food and drug safety minister to speed up the treatment's clinical trial…
Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won has firmly denied accusations of illegal lobbying for a COVID-19 treatment in 2021, admitting he should have handled his request more cautiously. The two-term lawmaker faced allegations of asking the then food and drug safety minister to expedite the treatment's clinical trial approval through a broker.
Kim assured reporters that he never engaged in unlawful solicitation and that the food and drug ministry's review was not unfairly conducted as a result. He claimed his call to the food and drug safety minister aimed to prevent the drug from being unfairly delayed in clinical trial proceedings, given the accelerated pace of COVID-19 treatments during the pandemic.
Prosecutors had previously deferred formally charging Kim after concluding his request could not be definitively deemed illegal.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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