Free Republic

In connection with the breaking news out of South Korea, here is a Korean language map from South Korean daily conservative newspaper Chosun Ilbo, showing the land and air routes the potential assassins (two males; highly trained) took from North Korea under orders from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, until they were arrested in the South. Will post other breaking news as it comes in. No photographs have emerged yet of the two arrested and or whether weaponry was found on their persons.

SEOUL, South Korea - A discredited South Korean cloning scientist admitted in court Tuesday to ordering subordinates to falsify stem cell data for a paper in a scientific journal, but he insisted he should not be the only one blamed in the scandal. Hwang Woo-suk, who falsely claimed breakthroughs in creating stem cells from cloned human embryos, testified at the second hearing of a trial in which he is accused of accepting funds under false pretenses, embezzlement and violating the bioethics law by purchasing eggs for research. For a 2005 paper in the journal Science, Hwang acknowledged that he told...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk went on trial Tuesday on charges of fraud and embezzlement in a scandal over faked stem cell research that undermined global hopes of dramatic new treatments for incurable diseases. Hwang was indicted last month for allegedly accepting $2.1 million in private donations based on the outcome of the falsified research and embezzling about $831,000 in private and government research funds. Hwang also was accused of buying human eggs for research, a violation of the country's bioethics law. If convicted, the 52-year-old scientist faces at least three years in prison. Hwang is...

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean truck driver killed himself on Saturday by setting himself on fire after distributing leaflets urging disgraced stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk to resume his research, police said. The man in his late 50s, identified only by his family name Chung, doused his body with paint thinner in front of a historic statue in the center of Seoul in the early hours of Saturday. He died before reaching hospital. Witnesses saw Chung distribute about 30 leaflets calling for Hwang to carry on his studies before setting himself alight, a police official said by telephone. An investigation...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk was questioned Friday by South Korean government authorities for the first time since the scandal erupted over his falsified stem cell research. The Board of Audit and Inspection questioned Hwang about his possible misappropriation of state funds, spokesman Park Jin-kyu said. Hwang received $42.2 million in government funds for his research as well as $4.35 million from private foundations, according to the board. Hwang already has been questioned by a Seoul National University panel, which has accused the professor of veterinarian medicine of fabricating results published in landmark 2004 and 2005...

SEOUL (Reuters) - The president of Seoul National University stripped a title from a disgraced researcher because of science fraud and called for six others to be punished who were part of the same cloning scandal, the school said on Friday. Once heralded and now scorned, scientist Hwang Woo-suk lost his title as "chair-professor." Hwang had already resigned his post at the university on December 23 when an investigation panel said in an interim report that he bore major responsibility for deliberately fabricated data in two landmark papers on embryonic stem cells. Seoul National University President Chung Un-chan said the...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced researcher Hwang Woo-suk asked forgiveness Thursday from fellow South Koreans for his fraudulent claims of human stem cell breakthroughs, but blamed the scandal on junior researchers who he said deceived him. Hwang, in his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, continued to insist he has the technology to use cloning to create human embryonic stem cells genetically matched to patients — saying he could do so in six months if he had access to enough human eggs. Seoul National University, where Hwang is a professor, issued investigation results Tuesday saying he fabricated landmark claims...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk asked his fellow South Koreans for forgiveness Thursday at his first public appearance in almost three weeks, saying he takes full responsibility for his fraudulent stem cell research. "I ask for your forgiveness," Hwang told a nationally televised press conference in Seoul. "I feel so miserable that it's difficult even to say sorry." Seoul National University, where Hwang is a professor, on Tuesday issued a final report that he fabricated landmark published claims in 2004 and 2005 to have created the world's first human embryonic stem stells from cloned embryos. "The use...

Korean TV station MBC Tuesday dealt another blow to the country’s cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk claiming he had forced his junior researcher to contribute eggs by using authorship as a carrot. MBC made the claim in its investigative program, ``PD Notebook,’’ which resumed after a four-week suspension caused by its aggressive position on Hwang’s controversial stem cell research. ``Hwang’s team used more than 1,600 eggs obtained from a total of 86 donors for their stem cell papers featured by the U.S. journal Science in 2004 and 2005,’’ MBC producer Choi Seung-ho said. Hwang claimed to have harvested the first-ever...

Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk defended himself insisting he has the technology to produce patient-specific stem cells and that he had been the victim of a "long-planned" conspiracy. An investigation panel at Seoul National University has concluded Hwang did not produce any embryonic stem cells individually tailored to patients as claimed in a paper published in the journal Science last year. Hwang stood by his work in an interview with a local Buddhist newspaper Saturday. "I definitely have the source technology to produce tailored embryonic stem cells," Hwang was quoted as saying in Beopbo. "I can replicate the process any time."...

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 29 - Hwang Woo Suk, South Korea's disgraced star scientist, could present no evidence to corroborate his landmark claim that he had cloned human embryos and extracted from them stem cells that genetically match patients, a university panel said today. The announcement by the panel, from Seoul National University where Dr. Hwang did his research, suggested that he did not just grossly exaggerate his work in an article published in the journal Science in June, but fabricated the entire paper. "So far we could not find any stem cells regarding Dr. Hwang's 2005 paper that genetically...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The stunning fall of South Korea's stem cell hero Hwang Woo-Suk set the stage for a ferocious new battle in the highly politicised debate over cloning in the United States. Hwang's disgrace shocked stem cell research advocates and the anti-cloning lobby alike, and some observers say his tailspin could at least slow the race for breakthroughs in the lucrative bio-technology industry. Investigators at Seoul National University said Thursday there was no evidence to prove Hwang's claim to have cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them that genetically match patients. His supposed breakthrough was so important...

SEOUL, South Korea - An already disgraced scientist lied about all of the stem cell lines he claimed were matched to different patients through cloning, investigating researchers said in a new jolt to the shattered reputation of Hwang Woo-suk. Thursday's announcement all but ends the fraud investigation into one of three major cloning breakthroughs claimed by the one-time scientific superstar and national hero. Probes of Hwang's two other groundbreaking experiments are still under way at Seoul National University where he worked before resigning in disgrace last week. The latest news was one more disappointment to the scientific world, which had...

In February 2004, Woo--Suk Hwang made world headlines when he claimed to have cloned human embryos using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, and then to have derived a line of stem cells from the embryos that could be used for medical research. Enthusiasm for this first "successful" experiment in human cloning, published in the prestigious peer--reviewed journal Science, was tempered by the inefficiency of the process: It took 242 human eggs to get just one embryonic stem cell line.That problem seemed solved when, last May, Hwang published another article in Science asserting that he had again successfully...

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Two members of a stem-cell research team allegedly gave $30,000 to a former member of the group to retract comments about fabricating research data. Professors Ahn Cu-rie and Yoon Hyun-soo, both of Seoul National University, allegedly gave the money to Kim Seon-jong during a trip this month to the University of Pittsburgh, where he had been working since he left the South Korean research team, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Tuesday. University officials say research by Professor Hwang Woo-suk was fabricated. Hwang said he would resign from the university but did not admit his work,...

SEOUL - Patient-specific stem cells that disgraced South Korean cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk said he had produced this year do not exist, investigators have concluded, according to a news report Monday. A panel at Seoul National University, which allowed DNA tests to be conducted to verify Hwang's research published in the US journal Science, said there was no evidence to support the existence of tailored stem cells, Yonhap news agency said. "There were no such patient-specific stem cells as in the 2005 paper of Science," it said, without naming its source, while adding the panel had been analyzing the DNA...

The unwelcome but indisputable revelation that some of the most exciting biomedical claims of the past few years were the product of scientific fraud settled like a cloud over the American scientific community yesterday. Stem cell researchers said they were depressed and discouraged to learn that an investigatory panel at Seoul National University had found that most of the precious human embryonic stem cell colonies that its scientists had touted were fakes. The star scientist at the heart of that deception -- Hwang Woo Suk -- resigned yesterday from his university post, his meteoric rise to fame coming to a...

SEOUL, South Korea - While South Korea's most famous scientist was resigning Friday in disgrace after his university said he faked stem cell research, one of his greatest purported breakthroughs was romping in the snow. Snuppy, an Afghan hound that researcher Hwang Woo-suk said he cloned, was shown in photographs by South Korean media being led by a handler on a leash through the grounds of Seoul National University's animal hospital, where the dog is now kept. "Lonely Snuppy after professor Hwang leaves," Yonhap news agency wrote in one photo caption. Hwang unveiled Snuppy — named for Seoul National University...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Scientists fretted Friday that a spectacular cloning fraud that hid in plain sight has set back legitimate stem cell work around the world. Cloning experts and stem cell scientists said research in the potentially revolutionary field of regenerative medicine will continue unabated. But they said public confidence in their work had been weakened by a sham branded by experts as the most visible case of scientific fraud they could recall. Scientists also struggled to explain how they didn't earlier catch the charismatic South Korean veterinarian's claim in a Science paper published in May that he cloned...

The South Korean university that once boasted of its relationship with stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suck has now condemned him for grave misconduct. University investigators say the researcher falsified his research results, and Dr. Hwang has resigned in disgrace.Ro Jung-hye, chief of the Seoul National University's research office, said Friday that Dr. Hwang faked most of his reasearch results, which were hailed as groundbreaking when first announced.Ms. Roe says Dr. Hwang has committed major misconduct, which undermines the fundamentals of science.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk faked results of at least nine of 11 stem-cell lines he claimed to have created, a deliberate deception that has undermined the credibility of science, his university said Friday. The announcement by Seoul National University of results so far in its investigation into Hwang's work were the first confirmation of allegations that have cast a shadow over his entire list of breakthroughs in cloning and stem-cell technology. "This kind of error is a grave act that damages the foundation of science," the panel said. In a May paper in the journal...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In a further blow to the credibility of the South Korean researcher who claimed to be the first to clone a human embryo, the journal Science said Tuesday it's now investigating a 2004 study it published that first brought Hwang Woo-suk to prominence. At issue are two vital photographs that Hwang used to illustrate his breakthrough claim. They appear identical to photos published previously in another journal on an unrelated topic. The latest allegation adds to a long list of charges leveled against the fallen "cloning king" in the past month. Hwang maintains his central findings,...

SEOUL, South Korea - A panel questioned stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, sealed off his office and secured materials in his laboratory Sunday as it began a probe of allegations he falsified embryonic stem cells that he said he had created in a scientific breakthrough. Seoul National University began the investigation after Hwang acknowledged there were "fatal errors" in a May article in the journal Science claiming that he and other researchers cloned human embryos and created 11 stem cell lines that genetically matched certain patients. Scientists hope to use such "therapeutic cloning" someday to create tissue for transplant into...

Buying eggs is OK, Lying is not. Woo-Suk Hwang, the South Korean stem cell pioneer resigned yesterday as head of the World Stem Cell Hub collaboration. The reason for his resignation is that Hwang's lab used eggs donated by two of his junior research scientists. In addition, Hwang discovered that other eggs used in the research were not donated, but had been purchased by another collaborator. In 2004, Hwang achieved the breakthrough of creating the first cloned human embryos and deriving stem cells from them. This advance is a step toward the day when researchers can create transplantable cells and...

SEOUL, Dec 5 (Reuters) - South Korean researchers led by Hwang Woo-suk of Seoul National University are at the forefront of stem cell research. In May, their study on using tissue from patients to grow stem cells answered a promise that could one day provide human tissue and organs to cure terminal illnesses. Hwang apologised on Nov. 24 for ethical lapses in his work. Two junior women researchers donated their eggs for the team's work, a practice which has been seen as an ethical violation because research associates could feel they were coerced into making such donations. Following is some...

A new round of criticism has broken out in South Korea over the accuracy of a recent article that reported a striking advance in human stem cell research. In the June 17 article, Hwang Woo Suk, a veterinary researcher at Seoul National University, reported that he had developed embryonic stem cell colonies from 11 patients. The article, published in the journal Science, was hailed as a major step toward the goal of treating patients suffering from many serious diseases with their own, regenerated tissues. But Dr. Hwang's research, though praised by the South Korean government, faces mounting criticism from some...

In a shocking breach of medical ethics, the leading stem-cell and cloning researcher in South Korea admitted last week that he used eggs donated by subordinates in his work. According to Nature magazine, the junior researcher “felt obliged to donate after making mistakes early in the experiment that wasted eggs and set the team back by months.” This gross abuse of position and power is a lapse that Concerned Women for America (CWA) has warned could happen, and the case demonstrates growing concerns about the ethics of research involving human cloning. Hwang became a sensation in South Korea, a...

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 15 - Hwang Woo Suk, the scientist who stunned the world by announcing breakthroughs in stem cell and cloning research, faked a landmark research paper, one of his South Korean co-authors said today in television and newspaper interviews. Dr. Hwang and his aides, who had vehemently defended the paper published in the journal Science in June, were not immediately available for comment on the assertion by Roh Sung Il, , one of Dr. Hwang's 24 co-authors for the June paper, that the scientific finding was falsified. Mr. Roh, the administrator of MizMedi Hospital in Seoul, told...

SEOUL, South Korea - A doctor who provided human eggs for research by cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said in a Thursday broadcast that the South Korean scientist admitted that most of the stem cells produced for a key research paper were faked. Roh Sung-il, chairman of the board at Mizmedi Hospital, told KBS television that Hwang had agreed to ask the journal Science to withdraw the paper, published in June to international acclaim. Roh was one of the co-authors of the article that detailed how individual stem cell colonies were created for 11 patients through cloning. More at the link...

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's best known scientist said today he stands by his breakthrough stem cell research despite a barrage of fraud allegations, and vowed to prove the findings within days. But Hwang Woo-suk apologized for "fatal errors and loopholes in reporting the scientific accomplishment" and said he has asked that the scientific article outlining his research be withdrawn. He gave no details of the errors. The paper, published in May by the journal Science, purported to show how Hwang's team used cloning to custom-make embryonic stem cells for 11 patients, raising hopes of treatment for...

Stem Cell Shenanigans Cloning Research Plagued by Bald Ethical Lapses SEOUL, South Korea, DEC. 17, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Controversy over research methods in South Korea has shed light on some dubious practices in the race to promote human cloning and research with embryonic stem cells. Last spring a team of researchers, led by Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University, triumphantly announced the cloning of human embryos, from which they extracted stem cells, the New York Times reported May 20. The results of the research were published in the journal Science. The method they used is often referred to as therapeutic...

<p>Before confessing last week to ethical lapses in his research, South Korean stem-cell pioneer Dr. Hwang Woo Suk had enjoyed god-like status in his native land.</p> <p>The veterinarian and Seoul National University professor had made international headlines in 2004 when his team was the first to harvest stem cells from cloned human embryos. Since then, the South Korean government had granted him the official title of “Supreme Scientist,” Korean Air officials had dubbed him a “national treasure” deserving of free passage on its flights for a decade, and his online fan club had attracted some 15,000 members.</p>

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's best known scientist said Friday he stands by his breakthrough stem cell research despite a barrage of fraud allegations, and vowed to prove the findings within days. But Hwang Woo-suk apologized for "fatal errors and loopholes in reporting the scientific accomplishment" and said he has asked that the scientific article outlining his research be withdrawn. He gave no details of the errors. The paper, published in May by the journal Science, purported to show how Hwang's team used cloning to custom-make embryonic stem cells for 11 patients, raising hopes of treatment for paralysis or...

By Burt Herman ASSOCIATED PRESS 7:29 a.m. December 15, 2005 SEOUL, South Korea – A doctor who provided human eggs for research by cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said in a broadcast Thursday that the South Korean scientist agreed to withdraw a key research paper because most of the stem cells produced for the article were faked. Roh Sung-il, chairman of the board at Mizmedi Hospital, told KBS television that Hwang had agreed to ask the journal Science to withdraw the paper, published in June to international acclaim. Roh was one of the co-authors of the article that detailed how individual...

Last May, a stunning research paper in Science, one of the world's most respected scientific journals, instantly changed the tenor of the debate over cloning human embryos and extracting their stem cells. A team of South Korean scientists reported in the paper that they had figured out how to do this work so efficiently that the great hope of researchers and patients - to obtain stem cells that were an exact match of a patient's - seemed easily within sight. But that rosy future has been cast into doubt with the statement last month by Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, who...

NEW YORK - New allegations of fraud in stem-cell research by a prominent South Korean researcher emerged Thursday, and scientists said his other high-profile claims could face investigation as well. Among them: the first cloned human embryos and the first cloned dog. The reputation of Hwang Woo-suk of Seoul National University has been battered by allegations of fabrication in a blockbuster paper published in May. He and co-authors claimed that by cloning human embryos, they'd created 11 stem cell lines that genetically matched certain patients. Scientists hope to use such "therapeutic cloning" someday to create tissue for transplant into people...

Now comes word that the famed South Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Wu-suk, who attracted so much attention earlier this year, faked his results. His close collaborator Roh Sung-Il says that the stem cells that Hwang claims to have cloned probably do not exist. He also said that leading authors of the paper have notified the journal Science that they were withdrawing the paper. Science said it had not yet heard from Hwang. Professor Hwang's work, originally published by Science in June, was hailed as a breakthrough -- a "tremendous advance," according to Stanford University Nobelist Paul Berg. It was also...