S. Korean Cloning Scientist Hwang Indicted

South Korean prosecutors indicted disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk Friday on charges of fraud, embezzlement and bioethics violations in a scandal over faked stem cell research that shook the scientific community.

Five members of Hwang's research team were indicted on lesser charges, prosecution official Lee In-kyu said in a nationally televised news conference.

Hwang was hailed worldwide as a stem cell pioneer and treated as a national hero until investigations late last year showed that he had fabricated key data, which had given hope for breakthrough treatments to such diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Hwang was charged fraud for accepting $2 million in private donations based on the outcome of the falsified research and for allegedly embezzling nearly $900,000 in private and government research funds, Lee said. He also allegedly paid money to receive human eggs for research, a violation of the country's bioethics law.

Of the researchers, three were charged with fraud, one with tampering with research samples and one with bioethics violations. Lee said none of the six would be detained, but did not elaborate.

But no charges were filed directly linked to the research. "There has been no precedent in the world" of bringing criminal charges for fabricating academic papers, Lee said.

The scientist had claimed that he created the world's first cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them. Those claims published in academic journals in 2004 and 2005 had offered hope of new treatments for millions of patients suffering from paralysis and debilitating diseases.

Stem cells are basic human cells that can develop into nearly any kind of tissue.

Hwang acknowledged publicly that he inflated data, but accused other researchers of deceiving him with falsified research results.

Prosecutors accepted that a junior researcher led Hwang into believing that the team successfully created patient-specific stem cells. Kim Sun-jong, who was indicted for tampering, committed the wrongdoing "under psychological pressure" to accomplish his duties and "out of desire to succeed as a scholar," Lee said.

Based on those wrong samples, Hwang carried out further fabrication of data to write the 2005 paper, Lee said. It was unclear when Hwang became aware he had been deceived.

Hwang maintains he has the technology to do what he claimed. But South Korea's Health Ministry withdrew his research license, preventing him from cloning human embryos or receiving eggs for such work.

After the research was discredited, he was fired from his post as a professor at Seoul National University's veterinary department and the government conducted a probe into his finances.

Auditors said in February that it was unclear how Hwang spent $2.6 million he received in government funds and private donations.

Through last year, Hwang received $33 million in government funds for his research as well as $6.4 million in private donations, the audit board said.

Outside the prosecutors' office in Seoul, about two dozen supporters called for Hwang to continue his research.

In the end, Hwang is an incompetent researcher unable to figure out the veracity of many experimental results by his junior staffs. He was too eager to hog publicity in international media, and gave little attention to careful verification. That is why his junior staff, Kim Sun-jong was able to get away with faking his experiment data out of sheer academic greed.

An important aspect overlooked by many following this incident is its political dimension, believe it or not. Some of the most fanatic ex-supporters of Roh Moo-hyun are the ones who also embraced and have been worshiping him as a god. They were the important constituency of Roh and his crews. Disillusioned by inept, incompetent and often-corrupt Roh's government, totally lacking mythical hero quality, they turned to Hwang Woo-suk as their next hero(savior) to worship. If you have to recruit suicide bombers in S. Korea, they are the prime candidates, judging from the way they act. Even now, they are staging vigils and protest at Prosecutor's Office. They also have an nation-wide organization, and decided to field candidates or back ones who could help their cause. The problem is that their size is not small, and are fanatically committed.

What this boils down is the fracture of left's support base in S. Korea. Its fanatic component moved out and turned against it. It is like watching Red Guards turning on each other after their attacks on Bourgeois elements in late 60's China. MBC, a pro-pinko major TV network, is now their sworn enemy. The operators on the left might have figured that they can hold onto this segment of their support, because they tend to live vicariously supporting their underdog hero of mediocre credentials in all manners, academically, socially, and economically(Hwang was a virtual academic nobody doing vetenary medicine.) They indulge in real-life fairy tale drama unfolding in the form of Hwang's rise. The grest profile for left-wing supporters, the left-wing operators could have figured. However, the problem was that they have a different priority. To Hwang's supporters, Hwang is the No. 1 issue, nothing else. This conflicts with the party line. That provoked the nasty battle between two groups. Hwang's crowds are wild beasts which has minds of their own.

From another angle, Hwang incident is a relief rally after first popping of political bubble called "Roh Moo-hyun," started amid supercharged emotional afterglow right after 2002 World Cup Soccuer Tournament. The Roh Moo-hyun myth pumped up by pro-left media has peaked and going down for some time. For those who disillusioned, Hwang provided the rallying point. Now, it is going down again. It is like stock market. When the market peaked and goes down, it would not go down straight. It will create several relief rallies on the way. The rallies get shorter and shorter both in duration and height. Maybe the third relief rally was the short-lived popularity for Kang Keum-shil for last few weeks, a ruling party's candidate for Seoul's mayorship at May 31 local elections.

I see all these as good thing. As many on the left try to grasp whatever can relieve their disillusionment, only to be disillusioned again, their commitment and spirit would be broken, betrayed by their own desperate hope and expectation. Far more effective than thousands of reasoned arguments from conservatives.

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