Posted on 02/04/2006 3:04:12 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean truck driver killed himself on Saturday by setting himself on fire after distributing leaflets urging disgraced stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk to resume his research, police said.
The man in his late 50s, identified only by his family name Chung, doused his body with paint thinner in front of a historic statue in the center of Seoul in the early hours of Saturday. He died before reaching hospital.
Witnesses saw Chung distribute about 30 leaflets calling for Hwang to carry on his studies before setting himself alight, a police official said by telephone.
An investigation panel at Seoul National University said in January a team led by the once-heralded Hwang had deliberately faked two landmark papers on embryonic stem cells. Hwang resigned his post at the university in December.
According to Yonhap news agency, the dead man was a member of an online chat cafe, "I love Hwang Woo-suk", but had not actively participated in outdoor protests to support him.
He left a memo in an Internet chatroom just before killing himself to call for a gathering in Seoul on Saturday in support of the disgraced researcher, the news agency said.
Police said Chung drove trucks in Pusan, the country's second-biggest city, but had no further personal details.
Hwang's research had raised hopes because it seemed to hasten the day when genetically specific tissue could be grown from embryonic stem cells to repair damaged organs or treat diseases such as Parkinson's.
South Korean prosecutors raided Hwang's home on Thursday in an investigation and a government committee said separately his team violated ethical practice in procuring human eggs for research. Thousands of Hwang's supporters have gathered in Seoul every weekend to hold candle-lit protests since January.
Martin: one for your list...? :)
And his point was......?
A major nutcaes, obviously. But South Korea seems to be full of nutcases. Among other things, look at the armies of South Koreans who apparently thought the scientist Hwang would put South Korea in the first rank of nations; and when the guy was exposed as a charlatan, these people wailed and cried and said they felt like killing themselves. Maybe it's something in the water, but South Korea seems to be just a couple of steps behind North Korea when it comes to national psychosis.
I wish our leftist nutcases would set themselves on fire to prove a point, instead of smashing somebody elses property.
maybe, just maybe they can find a stran of his DNA in one unburnt eyelash...
Clone anyone?
Naaaah. Too easy.
Isn't that the Korean title for Brokeback Mountain?
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