Police Question Additional Complainant in Kim Seung-won Clinical Trial Approval Solicitation Case; Fraudulent Unfair Trading Allegation

[Financial News] Police are speeding up their investigation into allegations that Kim Seung-won, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and former nominee for Minister of Justice, solicited approval for a clinical trial of a COVID-19 treatment.
At around 2 p.m. on the 28th, Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station summoned Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul Metropolitan Council member who filed a complaint on the 14th against Kim, Kang, the founder of biotech company GENENCELL, and broker Yang for fraudulent unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act.
Before questioning, Lee claimed that Kang had asked Yang for political assistance in 2021 while agreeing to receive investment on the condition that a clinical trial for a COVID-19 treatment be approved. Yang then explained the investment-attraction and listing plans to Kim and solicited his help in obtaining approval. Kim allegedly asked Kim Gang-lip, then commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, to expedite the process, which Lee said resulted in the approval being granted.
Lee also pointed out that Kang's attempt to obtain clinical trial approval with false materials, attract investment and sell his existing shares constituted fraudulent unfair trading. Elaborating on the purpose of his complaint, he said, "If Kim recognized signs of irregular transactions—including the sale of existing shares before approval, attracting investment, listing plans and monetization—and nevertheless directly asked the commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to expedite approval, he could potentially be considered an accomplice."
He added, "The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was so cautious about approving the GENENCELL treatment that it requested supplementation on 14 items," and said, "Without Kim's illegal solicitation, approval might have been impossible, or the review period might have been prolonged because of the requested supplements, meaning that neither stock-price manipulation nor the administration of the treatment to patients would have occurred."
The police are also investigating complaints alleging violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and abuse of authority in connection with the allegations that Kim solicited clinical trial approval. After questioning Lee on the 11th, police summoned and questioned Kim Sun-hwan, secretary-general of the Committee for the Protection of Ordinary People's Livelihood, on the following day over the same allegations.
Earlier, prosecutors investigated allegations that Kim promised to arrange a bribe and issued a suspension of indictment in December 2024. Kim challenged the decision by filing a constitutional complaint, while Yang and Kang were indicted on charges including promising to offer a bribe and are scheduled to appear for their final hearing in November.
The police reportedly requested the investigation records from prosecutors but did not receive them. They are therefore conducting a comprehensive review of Yang and Kang's indictments, the non-prosecution decision document concerning Kim, and publicly available related court rulings.
Kim, however, has maintained that he merely conveyed a public-interest grievance to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. On the 11th, while arriving at an office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where he was preparing for his confirmation hearing, he told reporters, "It was conveyed in the sense of asking why the process was not moving forward because a small company was being subjected to some pressure from a multinational corporation, and asking them to look into the reason and resolve such unfairness." He explained, "I conveyed it to the commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety exactly once, and all I did was exchange one or two related text messages." He also said he had confirmed materials showing that clinical trials for the treatment were being conducted overseas and had taken into consideration that the National Assembly and the government were both working to develop treatments at the time.
At the confirmation hearing for Minister of Justice on the 15th, he also rebutted the allegations, saying, "The grievance I conveyed was a request to look into unfairness in the process," and, "I did not become involved in the approval process after conveying the grievance."
[email protected] Park Sung-hyun Reporter