The People Power Party stepped up its offensive targeting Kim Seung-won, the nominee for Minister of the Ministry of Justice. It repeatedly raised allegations that Kim exerted influence over the approval process for Genencell's clinical trial of a COVID-19 treatment and urged a thorough investigation.
Choi Su-jin, the People Power Party's senior spokesperson for the floor, questioned the clinical trial approval process in a commentary on the 6th, mentioning Genencell, a COVID-19 treatment developer that conveyed a petition to Kim.
Choi said, "Genencell's COVID treatment clinical trial approval was completed in 33 days," adding, "a period that does not even reach half of the 71-day average for companies under the same conditions."
Choi added, "Even though the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety requested supplementation on 14 items, approval was granted two weeks after Kim and the head of the agency spoke on the phone," noting, "this requires a thorough investigation."
The People Power Party also raised additional allegations surrounding Kim.
Chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon continued the offensive, citing allegations of stock price manipulation driven by brokers and suspicions of slush fund creation at the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi provincial chapter in connection with Kim.
Lawmaker Na Kyung-won, mentioning KH Philux, which invested in Genencell, argued that suspicions about Genencell lead to KH Group and former Chairman Bae Sang-yoon, as well as allegations of illegal remittances to North Korea and the Daejang-dong development project.
Lawmaker Kim Min-jeon took issue, based on the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi provincial chapter's accounting report, with a total of 36 million won—2 million won per person—being paid between January and May this year to party staff as separate pay in addition to base salary while Kim served as chairperson. The suspicion is that a slush fund may have been created by paying additional compensation through bank accounts under other staffers' names.
Lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu also raised allegations that Kim's spouse omitted assets in a disclosure. Kim argued there was a possibility of intentional omission, saying that real estate jointly inherited by the spouse from her mother in June this year was left out of the asset disclosure list submitted to the National Assembly.