SKorea rejects research bid by disgraced clone expert

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

SEOUL (AFP) — South Korea will not allow disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk to resume human stem cell research, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

It said Hwang's request was turned down by the country's national committee on bioethics. The health ministry declined to comment on the report but said it would brief the media on Friday.

"He engaged in unethical and wrongful acts in the past and the committee decided to reject it," a source who took part in the committee meeting was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

"One committee member strongly argued that it would bring shame on the whole country," the source said.

Hwang's claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled to be bogus, and he is banned from research using...