Latest Korean Head to Roll

Latest Korean Head to Roll

Park Ky-young, the science advisor to the South Korean president, offered her resignation in the wake of the Hwang stem cell scandal, and it has been accepted. She was also listed as a co-author of the problem paper. The news of her resignation (which was not a surprise) and its acceptance is on the Chinese news site Xinhua.

In other Korean news, the BBC reports that the investigation is now considering whether or not ethical abuses of patients took place in clinical trials. One patient, a 39 year old paraplegic, now reports that she is in constant pain and apparently no longer has the mobility she regained after the first of two procedures. The article says that many people are now calling for more government regulation of stem cell research and treatment.

The Korea Times reports today that prosecutors have summoned two scientist co-authors and six junior colleagues for questioning in the Hwang affair. The prosecutor’s office is also concerned that colleagues of Hwang’s may have been colluding recently to work out alibis. One of the summoned scientists is now in the United States at the University of Pittsburgh.