By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter


Korea is pulling out its support for disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who had falsified data for a stem cell paper featured in the journal Science in May.

A committee affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), which screens candidates for ``supreme scientist,’’ plans to convene on Jan. 11.

The non-standing panel is expected to strip Hwang of his title as Korea’s No. 1 supreme scientist because Hwang was found to have cooked data for his 2005 Science paper and the U.S. journal also looks to retract it.

In addition, Kwanak-gu District Office in Seoul yesterday said it will be difficult to continue with its scheme of building a large-sized research complex for Hwang.

Hwang grabbed the country’s first supreme scientist title last June just a month after he claimed to have created patient-specific stem cells through Science.

At the time the MOST panel picked up Hwang among a total of five candidates. Thanks to the honor, Hwang gained the right to receive a maximum of 3 billion won annually over the next five years.

The panel initially planned to hold a meeting last month after Seoul National University (SNU), where Hwang works, found that Hwang had fabricated data.

However, the schedule was delayed to this month because some members of the 10-person committee could not participate late last month.

In Jan. 2005, Kwanak-gu, where SNU is situated, announced its extravagant scheme of setting up the research complex on 15,000 pyong (about 49,500 square meters) of land.

Yet, the office failed to secure a budget for the bold project and the ongoing scandal on the authenticity of Hwang’s experiments is also a stumbling block.

``The research center was designed based on medical exploits of Hwang. As the veracity of his feats are under serious suspicion, it is practically impossible to go ahead with the plan,’’ said an official at Kwanak-gu.

Meanwhile, Science said it gained approval of all 25 co-authors for the 2005 paper. The journal is expected to retract it after SNU issues the final report on Hwang early next week.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr