Korean Job Discussion Forums

Roch · Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

Just wondering what y'all think, eh.

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

At first I really thought it was just some damn-the-torpodoes-full-speed-ahead ethical lapse, of the kind that many great men have committed.

That he would be such a blatant fraud -- yes.. I'm very surprised. My only hope is that the fervent nationalists realize the role their damaging ideology played in trying to make people questioning him shut up.

Roch · Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

Yeah, you're right. I wonder, though, why here are soooo many Hwangs around these parts. Any explanations?

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

I feel the same as HD. I mean, who would guess he would have the balls to outright fabricate his results? The more I think about it, the more he seems like a total sociopath. Did he really think he'd get away with it?

Well, I suppose we're still waiting to see if those 2 stem cell lines are real. He still maintains that his technique works. But I get the feeling he's just the type of dude to keep lying to the very end.

Just to get everybody all stoked up, here's some pictures of a candlelight vigil held for him, followed by a post from a korean internet cafe called the I Love Hwang Woo Suk cafe.

this is unfair case and trap by some bad people.

Because Dr.Hwang'eyes look truly.

He always show everyone his best work.

He never ever did not blame anyone now on.

He just show us the work for his dream and his country korea.

He didn't care about money.

He is gentlman itself.

If he was not pure, he couldn't do such good behaviores.

So,even though he did big mistake,

many people belive in his good mind.

Many people feel his purity not in head but in heart.

djsmnc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Dave's ESL Cafe

this is unfair case and trap by some bad people.

Because Mr.Nixon'eyes look truly.

He always show everyone his best work.

He never ever did not blame anyone now on.

He just show us the work for his dream and his country america.

He didn't care about money.

He is gentlman itself.

If he was not pure, he couldn't do such good behaviores.

So,even though he did big mistake,

many people belive in his good mind.

Many people feel his purity not in head but in heart.

neandergirl · Joined: 23 Jun 2005

Not really, no. I was surprised that it was revealed as quickly as it was though.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

A Country of Liars
by Kim Dae-joong, Chosun Ilbo (July 3, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507030027.html

On the other hand · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue

I might take that Chosun Ilbo article a bit more seriously if it wasn't such a thinly-veiled attempt to pass off a partisan attack against the Ilbo's political foes as a general comment on ethics.

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

Here is a somewhat poignant article, written by a quadriplegic who is hoping that Hwang's technique for creating patient specific stem cells is real.

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,69864,00.html?tw=rss.TEK

According to the article linked below, we should know by early next week. Then we'll know once and for all if Hwang is a Liar/Genius or a Liar/Liar.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200512/200512250005.html

BigBlackEquus · Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:22 am Post subject:

And we all know that if there is even a scrap of truth to what he says, and it turns out he did invent something, the entire nation will latch onto it like a life-preserver and scream DAE-HAN-MIN-GOOK!

Wrench · Joined: 07 Apr 2005

Its quite amazing that he managed to pull wool over the world scientific eyes.

Not surprising at all.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Here's a brief summary of Hwang's career. Seen altogether, it raises some questions about the entire thing. (It's from JoongAng Ilbo)

From zero to hero to zero: the rise and fall of Hwang

December 26, 2005 �� Who is Hwang Woo-suk and what led him to become a cloning celebrity in the international science community before recent revelations of fabricated data brought about his fall?
A native of Buyeo, South Chungcheong province, Dr. Hwang grew up on a farm with only cows as friends. His family was very poor and his father died when he was five years old.
While in elementary school, he decided to spend the rest of his life with cows, later training as a veterinarian at Seoul National University. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in theriogenology, or studies in animal reproduction.
Dr. Hwang debuted in the local media in 1993, when he produced Korea��s first test tube calf. At the time, Dr. Hwang said he had succeeded in creating the calf by extracting immature eggs from slaughtered cows and culturing them in the laboratory before fertilizing them with bull sperm and inserting the fertilized eggs into a surrogate mother cow.
In 1999, Dr. Hwang produced Yeongnongi �� the first domestic cow to be cloned from a somatic cell that was implanted into a nucleus-removed egg. No academic papers were released by Dr. Hwang at the time, however, so there is no written evidence to prove that Yeongnongi was an authentic clone.
Two months later, Dr. Hwang��s research team announced the birth of another cow, Jini. This cow was also cloned from a somatic cell, but instead of a womb cell as used for Yeongnongi, Jini was cloned from an ear cell.
Dr. Hwang then moved his focus from animal cloning to the cloning of human somatic cells. In August of 2000, he announced that he had transplanted a somatic cell taken from a 36-year old man into an egg, culturing it to the point of becoming a blastocyst (an early stage of an embryo).
In 2001, the cow Yeongnongi gave birth to a 37kg calf and began producing milk. The cow Jini also gave birth to a calf after artificial insemination. The following year, Dr. Hwang��s research team cloned a pig that had altered genetic traits, but the animal died within a day.
The year 2003 was a milestone in which Dr. Hwang produced a cow resistant to mad cow disease, as well as an aseptic mini pig.
His fame soared in 2004, when Dr. Hwang announced cloning human embryonic stem cells �� a world first. This year, he took that process a step further, saying he had customized the technology to clone patient-specific stem cells. Last August, Dr. Hwang also presented the first cloned dog �� an Afghan hound named Snuppy, short for ��SNU puppy.�� Following this groundbreaking work, Dr. Hwang was appointed director of the partially government-funded World Stem Cell Hub in October.

Hobophobic · Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 10:45 pm Post subject:

fiveeagles · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: Vancouver

Paddycakes · Joined: 05 May 2003 Location: Seoul

My wife, who is Korean, thinks the Americans are probably behind it all... in fairness I actually thought the idea possible as well given that it seems difficult to believe that anyone in their right mind could think they could pull off a scam like this...

At any rate, no doubt Hwang has a bright future ahead of him as a Hogwan manager... It would seem he fits the bill...