Shareholders: 'Illicit gains must be traced to the end'

Park Jeong-hun: 'We are being threatened by the government and ruling party'

Han Dong-hoon: 'Park Seon-won and Kim Min-seok are both accomplices'

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon speaks at a press conference held Friday in the National Assembly office of People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun, where shareholders claiming losses from alleged stock price manipulation involving Genencell and Sejong Medical gathered to address allegations that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won lobbied for clinical trial approval of a new drug. [Yonhap]
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon speaks at a press conference held Friday in the National Assembly office of People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun, where shareholders claiming losses from alleged stock price manipulation involving Genencell and Sejong Medical gathered to address allegations that Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won lobbied for clinical trial approval of a new drug. [Yonhap]

Shareholders who claim they suffered losses from alleged stock price manipulation involving Sejong Medical and Genencell — companies linked to the "new drug lobbying" allegations against Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won — urged investigators Friday to uncover the full truth about what Kim Seung-won and others actually did.

Baek Gwang-jae, head of the Sejong Medical Substantive Shareholders Alliance, and one other victim held a press conference at the National Assembly office of People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun. "What we consider most important in this case is confirming what roles Genencell founder Kang Se-chan, broker Yang Su-jin and nominee Kim or his office staff actually played," Baek said. Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon also attended.

"Uncover the truth, and hold those who are responsible fully accountable," Baek said. "If anyone used the company to obtain illicit gains, those gains and that responsibility must be traced to the very end."

The shareholders said they had bought shares based on Genencell's COVID-19 treatment development, expectations surrounding clinical trials, and related information and disclosures circulated in the market. "We need to verify whether the information delivered to investors was accurate, who played a role in the clinical trial approval process, and what impact that information and those expectations had on Sejong Medical's share price and trading volume," they said.

They added that if large-scale buying was driven by specific information and expectations, and existing shareholders or particular parties used that buying to offload large volumes of shares, it must also be determined who profited from that process.

The shareholders also called for an investigation into the connections among Genencell CEO Kang Se-chan, broker Yang Su-jin and nominee Kim. "Sejong Medical has 30,000 shareholders, and estimated losses are around 5 billion won ($3.8 million)," they said.

Park, who organized the press conference, said Democratic Party supreme council member Park Seon-won had made remarks that could identify a person surnamed Jo, who first raised the issue. "Jo is in fact being threatened by the government and the ruling party," Park said. "Jo applied to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission for personal protection, but the review has been delayed and protection has not yet been provided."

Han said Democratic Party supreme council member Park Seon-won's act of exposing the identity of a whistleblower, and Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, who was present at the time, were both accomplices.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com