By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

Cloning a human being is now possible, according to a South Korean scientist who isolated human stem cells from embryos for the third time in the world.

Park Se-pill, head of the Seoul-based stem cell research institute Maria Biotech, yesterday told The Korea Times that reproductive human cloning is not so far away.

``Give me your somatic cell today and I will give you a clone in a year, given there are no ethical concerns,’’ said Park, who extracted stem cell batches from frozen embryos in 2000.

His comments are contrary to what Seoul National University professor Hwang Woo-suk said at a press conference early this month.

Hwang, who cultured a stem cell line from cloned embryos for the first time in history in 2003, insisted that cloning a human will be technically impossible for the next 100 years.

``Even if some rogue scientists attempt it (reproductive cloning research), we will not be able to produce a human clone for at least another century,’’ Hwang said.

Park said he understands that Hwang said that to be able to continue his therapeutic cloning research.

``As an individual, I respect Hwang very much. But as a scientist, I should be frank. Reproductive human cloning is definitely possible at the moment,’’ Park said.

University of Ulsan professor Koo Young-mo agrees that Hwang’s statement is misleading.

``Hwang misinformed the people on the issue. He should not rationalize his research under the name of science,’’ Koo argued.

Other embryologists in Korea were divided in the stem cell-associated ethical debates spanning science, politics and religion.

Suncheon National University professor Kong Il-keun, who cloned six cats last summer, said making a human clone will be a difficult task but it won’t take 100 years.

``I can guess why Hwang said that. He wants to continue his therapeutic cloning research without criticism, and to do so he had to exaggerate,’’ he said.

In the past, ethical arguments on human stem cell research pivoted around whether or not an embryo, which is destroyed to get stem cell lines, is a living being.

However, after Hwang cloned somatic cells by concocting them with eggs, pro-life groups and ethicists started taking issue with the likelihood that the stem cell technology might led to human cloning.

By contrast, Jinju (Chinju) National University professor Park Hee-sung, who cloned a goat early this month, is on Hwang’s side.

``Reproductive cloning is extremely difficult. Even if there were no ethical problems, human cloning would take longer than 100 years,’’ Park contended.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr