Disgraced researcher to clone police dogs: report

Disgraced researcher Hwang Woo-suk, who claimed to have cloned human cells based on fabricated evidence, is pushing forward with a project to clone police dogs.

The National Police Agency (NPA) told Seoul Shinmun that it had deemed a consortium led by Hwang “eligible” to carry out the project to clone 40 police dogs.

The consortium is comprised of the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, where Hwang is the Chief Technology Officer, and Chungnam National University.

An NPA official told the paper that the dogs would be used to detect explosives and drugs.

Hwang was a pioneer in stem cell research, succeeding in cloning a dog for the first time in 2005. He was considered one of the top researchers in his field before being charged with embezzlement and bioethics law violations.

Since the controversy, Hwang has kept a relatively low profile at the Sooam research foundation, which was established by his supporters.