Mounting lobbying questions cloud Kim’s nomination

The allegations surrounding Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, are becoming increasingly difficult to brush aside. In October 2021, Kim received a request from an acquaintance, identified by the surname Yang, to help GenNCell, a pharmaceutical company, secure approval for a clinical trial of a new COVID-19 drug. Kim then texted Kim Kang-rip, the food and drug safety commissioner at the time, asking him to “please make sure it is handled quickly.” If that amounted to an improper request, it would be a serious blemish on the record of someone seeking to head the ministry charged with upholding the law.

The account laid out in Yang’s indictment is troublingly specific. Yang, who is on trial for allegedly promising Kim a bribe, was asked by Kang, GenNCell’s largest shareholder, to help expedite approval of the clinical trial. Yang then turned to Kim and asked him to make the request to the food and drug safety commissioner. Yang addressed Kim as “oppa” and “hyung,” familiar terms for an older male friend. Two weeks after Kim asked then-Commissioner Kim Kang-rip to expedite the process, the clinical trial was approved.

Kim says he was merely passing along a complaint. The indictment, however, raises questions that make that explanation hard to take at face value. It says Kim told Yang that the maximum political donation was 5 million won and suggested that “if things work out, that’s all you need to do.” When Yang told him that Kang would make a donation as a gesture of gratitude, Kim provided his bank account number and thanked him. The contents of another phone call have also come to light. Kim asked Yang to email him information about the new drug, saying that approval could enable Kang to make hundreds of billions of won. Taken together, these details are difficult to reconcile with the claim that Kim was simply relaying a routine complaint.

The circumstances surrounding a meeting involving Kim, Yang and Judge Jeong, who rejected an arrest warrant in the case, raise still more questions. In February 2022, Yang posted a photo of himself with Kim and Judge Jeong, highlighting their apparent personal relationship. The opposition says prosecutors obtained text messages in which Kim, while with Yang, asked Yang to bring Judge Jeong out for drinks. Prosecutors launched an investigation in November that year and sought an arrest warrant for Kang, GenNCell’s largest shareholder, in 2023. Judge Jeong, who appears in the photo, rejected the warrant, while another judge later issued one.

Kim received a deferred indictment in December 2024, rather than being cleared of the allegations. A report from August that year also showed that prosecutors had drawn up a plan to seek an eight-month prison sentence for Kim. Taken together, these circumstances make it difficult to say that the questions surrounding the alleged lobbying have been satisfactorily resolved.

Kim is seeking to become justice minister, a position at the heart of the government’s responsibility for law enforcement and the rule of law. That makes a clear and convincing explanation of the allegations more than a matter of political convenience. It is a matter of credibility. Until Kim provides an account that can withstand scrutiny, serious doubts about his fitness for the post will remain. If he cannot do so, he should withdraw his nomination.