Where Does Korean Con Artist Head?
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Korea's discredited scientist Hwang Woo-suk sparked speculations once again regarding where he will head to resume cloning human embryonic stem cells.
The guessing game erupted after media reports grabbed the headline that Hwang had left Seoul last Friday to sign up with a U.S. bio firm on restarting stem cell experiments in countries other than Korea or the United States.
A source familiar with the issue said Monday that Hwang's final destination is China where recruitment of human eggs, the must for embryonic research, is easy.
``As far as I know, Hwang is trying to revive his past glory in China with an aim of creating substantial results later this year,'' said the source who declined to be named.
``China is the best fit for Hwang and his associates_ they will be able to easily obtain sufficient human eggs there, something he can not do here by any means,'' he said.
However, Hwang's closest aides such as Park Byung-soo, head of a local bio venture start-up Sumagen, denied the rumor.
Park is a native of Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, as is Hwang. He has financially helped Hwang resume studies, mostly about animal cloning, in Korea.
``I can confirm Hwang jetted out to check the viability of making a global consortium, which focuses on human embryonic stem cells,'' Park said.
``His visiting countries include several regions on top of Thailand and will return early next week. But China is not the place where Hwang thinks of restarting embryonic cloning research,'' he said.
Hwang surprised the world in late 2006 by admitting there were no patient-specific stem cells, which he claimed to have created earlier, midway through in 2005.
Hwang, who still stands on trial on charges of embezzlement and fraud, has tried to resume embryonic research but failed to get government permission.
In this climate, the 54-year-old has spent his time and energy on animal cloning but he has shown his ambitions several times to reestablish his impaired reputation by resuming human embryonic stem cell research.