Justice minister nominee hit with criminal complaint over lobbying for hamster-killing Covid drug
According to an opposition lawmaker, the drug was administered to 93 people after Kim Seung-won reportedly sought expedited trial approval from the drug safety minister.
Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won speaks in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sept. 14.NEWS1
Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won was hit with a criminal complaint Monday over allegations that he lobbied for clinical trial approval for a Covid-19 treatment to help attract investment and boost the developer's stock price.
The complaint comes amid controversy surrounding the drug candidate, which was administered to 93 people even after some hamsters vomited blood and died during animal testing — with those findings later omitted from regulatory filings.
Former People Power Party (PPP) Seoul city councillor Lee Jong-bae filed the complaint against three people — Kim, a broker surnamed Yang and Prof. Kang Se-chan, the founder of Genencell — with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Monday, accusing them of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
Lee alleged that their efforts to secure clinical trial approval for Genencell's drug to attract investment and boost the company's stock price constituted an unfair trading practice prohibited under Article 178, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
The law prohibits the use of an "unfair means, scheme, or trick" in transactions of financial investment products.
Lee claimed that the professor asked the broker to use political connections to secure expedited approval for the clinical trial under a Drug Safety Ministry process because an investment was contingent on receiving the approval, and that Yang subsequently asked then-Rep. Kim to intervene.
"Kim contacted the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety at the time to make the request, and the trial was ultimately approved," Lee alleged. "Kim was aware that approval of the clinical trial could affect Genencell's corporate value and stock price."
The complaint also included allegations that Yang told Kim that funds could be raised by selling existing Genencell shares held by the company's founder and that the money go toward Kim's election campaign.
"If a lawmaker who was once a judge heard talk of 'monetization' and failed to recognize it as an abnormal transaction, he was incompetent, and if he recognized there was a problem and still actively sought approval, the offense is even more serious," Lee alleged.
People Power Party lawmaker Han Zee-a questions officials about the Genencell clinical trial during a Health and Welfare Committee meeting at the National Assembly in Yeongdeungpo Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, on Sept. 11.NEWS1
The complaint comes amid growing scrutiny over the clinical trial and the circumstances surrounding its approval.
The drug candidate ES16001, developed by Genencell, was administered to 93 participants in a Phase 2 clinical trial in 2022, according to data obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety by Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the main opposition PPP on Monday.
Details of the animal testing that preceded the human trial were included in a district court ruling in a Pharmaceutical Affairs Act case involving the Genencell founder.
Genencell conducted preclinical tests in 2021 on hamsters infected with Covid-19. Some of the hamsters showed abnormal symptoms, such as vomiting blood, and later died. Those findings were omitted from documents submitted to the Food Ministry, according to the ruling.
The court found that Kang knew the findings could hurt the drug’s chances of receiving clinical trial approval and instructed that they be deleted or omitted from the report.
The ministry said, however, that no serious and unexpected adverse reactions have been reported among the human trial participants to date.
“No suspected cases of serious and unexpected adverse drug reactions have been reported to date among the 93 people who received the drug,” the ministry said.
Rep. Yoon criticized Kim for seeking expedited approval despite signs that unfavorable animal test results had been omitted.
Logo of GenencellGENENCELL
“The safety and rights of trial participants should have taken priority over fast-tracking a drug when there were signs that unfavorable animal test results had been omitted,” Rep. Yoon said. “Kim [Seung-won] must explain why he asked the ministry to expedite the process.”
PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok also criticized the justice minister candidate.
“The hamsters vomited blood and died. Yet 93 people were actually given the drug,” Jang said on Monday. “This is what candidate Kim’s lobbying led to. The lives of the entire Korean population could have been put at risk.”
Other members of the PPP also chimed in.
“The identities of all 93 people who received the drug should be confirmed so they can seek damages from Kang, Yang and candidate Kim,” Kim Jae-won, a member of the PPP’s Supreme Council, said. “We must pursue this to the end and hold them accountable.”
The criticism continued across party lines.
“Because of Kim Seung-won’s ‘poison-drug lobbying,’ 93 people were given poison,” independent Rep. Han Dong-hoon wrote on Facebook on Monday. “Kim is responsible for what amounted to an attempted-murder clinical trial.”
The presidential office, on its part, has said it will wait until the confirmation hearings to make a decision about the nomination.
The conservative civic group Public Welfare Committee also filed an additional complaint against Kim, Yang and Kang on charges including fraud and attempted murder with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Monday.
Women’s Party members hold a press conference calling for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won’s nomination to be withdrawn in front of the Blue House on Sept. 14.NEWS1
The group alleged that Genencell had failed to meet government standards and was rejected from a clinical trial support program, but later secured approval after Kim sent a message lobbying the head of the Drug Safety Ministry, arguing that this constituted fraud.
It also alleged that drug regurgitation and enlarged lungs were observed in hamster tests but that the relevant findings were deliberately deleted or omitted from the clinical trial report, arguing that the conduct should be investigated as attempted murder.
Calls for Kim's nomination to be withdrawn also continued over separate controversies.
The Women's Party held a press conference on Monday alleging that Kim made a disparaging comment to a sexual crime victim while serving as a judge before giving the perpetrator a suspended sentence. The party also criticized him for representing a person convicted of facilitating prostitution and perpetrators of the gang rape of a minor while working as an attorney.
"President Lee Jae Myung and the ruling party must immediately withdraw Kim's nomination," the party said during the press conference.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
