“Song Young-gil Only Moves if You Pay Him” Text Message... Song Accuses Han of “Detective-Agency Politics”

[Financial News] The dispute over allegations that Kim Seung-won, the nominee for minister of the Ministry of Justice, sought a favor regarding approval for a new-drug clinical trial is spreading to other lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea. After independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon released additional text messages involving people connected to the case and mentioned Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Song Young-gil, Song strongly protested, calling it “backward politics like that of a private investigator or broker.”
Song Young-gil wrote on Facebook on the 7th, referring to Han Dong-hoon, “He became notorious as the embodiment of a political prosecution that allegedly fabricated and concealed evidence and disclosed facts about suspects when he was a special-prosecutor investigator and minister of the Ministry of Justice, and he is repeating the same conduct even after becoming a lawmaker.” He continued, “He is engaging in backward prosecutorial politics by selectively releasing to the media case-related records that appear to have been obtained from an investigating prosecutor during his time as minister of the Ministry of Justice, thereby politically tarnishing fellow lawmakers.”
Song Young-gil also denied the contents of the messages in which his name appeared. He said, “It has been reported that numerous politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties were mentioned in the showboating statements of someone I do not know at all,” adding, “They are trying to damage my reputation by selectively releasing part of a one-sided conversation.” He also demanded that Han explain how he obtained the relevant investigative materials.
Earlier that day, Han Dong-hoon released text messages exchanged in October 2021 between Kang, the head of a pharmaceutical company, and Yang, a broker identified as a key figure in the case, in connection with the allegations that Kim Seung-won sought a favor regarding approval for a new-drug clinical trial. Han claimed, “More Democratic Party of Korea ‘oppa’ figures are appearing besides Seung-won oppa,” and added, “The ‘oppa poison-drug lobbying scandal’ was actually the ‘Democratic Party of Korea oppa figures’ scandal.”
According to the messages released by Han Dong-hoon, Kang mentioned approval of the investigational new drug application (IND) and suggested meeting a lawmaker. Yang replied, “Representative Choi is coming to our office at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Seung-won oppa says he has to finish because of the parliamentary audit, so I’ll press Representative Choi.” Yang then wrote, “Song Young-gil is a fox, so you have to pay him to get him to move.” However, it has not been confirmed who the “Representative Choi” mentioned in the messages is.
When Kang again wrote, “When you meet Representative Choi, please ask him to approve it that week, since all the supplementary documents requested by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Tuesday will have been submitted,” Yang replied that he had explained the matter to “Seung-won oppa,” apparently referring to Kim Seung-won. Citing this, Han Dong-hoon said, “I ask the public to look at the text messages and decide whether this was truly a ‘public-interest’ petition or a ‘fraud involving the mobilization of Democratic Party of Korea oppa figures.’”
Kim Seung-won’s side has maintained that he never made an improper request to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The Democratic Party of Korea has also launched a counterattack, questioning how Han Dong-hoon obtained the materials he released. As a result, an allegation that initially centered on Kim Seung-won is expanding into a broader dispute between the ruling and opposition parties over other Democratic Party of Korea figures mentioned in the messages and the source of the materials.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter