Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rok_the-boat]

CanS of worms opening, worms morphing in to snakes ...

Watch those bridges ...

[rok_the-boat]

From the Korea Herald:

[Real Reality]

SNU panel says Hwang fabricated human stem cell research results
A panel from South Korea's top university investigating the veracity of the country's cloning pioneer's past study said Friday Hwang fabricated the results of his human stem cell research, calling it "damaging to the foundation of science."
Yonhap News (Dec. 23, 2005)
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20051223/410100000020051223110245E6.html

[rok_the-boat]

Here it is in Korean:

http://www.hani.co.kr/kisa/section-002001000/2005/12/002001000200512231125201.html

Ȳ�켮 �������� ������ ���� ���۵� ������ �巯��
Revealed - Hwang's paper is a total fabrication ...

�ϱ��� ������ �Ͼ�� �Ѵٴ� ��Ȳ�� ���ε��� �ڱ����� ������.
We don't want to believe it but we have to; the whole nation feels shame.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The JoongAng Ilbo has this:

Hwang requests investigation of ex-colleague

December 23, 2005 �� Seoul National University Professor Hwang Woo-suk yesterday requested that the Seoul prosecution conduct an investigation of a former member of his research team.
According to a document drafted by his attorney, Mun Hyeong-sik, requesting the probe, Dr. Hwang accused Kim Sun-jong, currently a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, of switching stem cells in his lab with those from the MizMedi Hospital. ��The patient-specific embryonic stem cell cloning project was seriously damaged by Kim Sun-jong��s interference,�� Dr. Hwang claimed in the document. ��There is not one other person who had access to both laboratories in Seoul National University and MizMedi Hospital.��
The Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors�� Office said it is reviewing the petition, adding that any investigation would start after Seoul National University announces the results of its investigation on the authenticity of the embryonic stem cell cloning research.
The university said yesterday that it will announce interim results this morning, but not those of DNA fingerprinting, commissioned to three outside institutions, because it will take longer to compare the fingerprints and see if they match.
The panel reportedly finished interviews with Dr. Hwang��s team members, except Mr. Kim who will return from Pittsburgh after Saturday, sources closed to the panel said.
The Board of Audit and Inspection also began preparations to investigate relevant ministries�� funding of Dr. Hwang��s research. The board asked the Ministry of Science and Technology to submit records on spending on Dr. Hwang��s project. The Science, Health and Information ministries are also to be investigated.

***
As someone said last week, he's trying to pass the buck. Or he is determined not to go down alone. It looks like there are going to be a lot of wrecked careers coming out of this thing. And a suicide or two? Anyway, not looking good.

[igotthisguitar]

Scandal Puts Focus on South Korean Culture
Korea's Stem-Cell Scandal Raises Questions About
Culture That Values Speed, Craves Attention

By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea Dec 22, 2005 — Six-day work weeks from morning until night. Companies trumpeting bigger and bigger flat-screen TVs. A government that proclaims it wants to be a "hub" for everything from finance to robots. South Korea is fiercely committed to being No. 1, and doing it yesterday.

As South Korea's top scientist Hwang Woo-suk falls from his lofty perch amid a wave of allegations questioning his research, the country's competitive culture of always hurrying coupled with a healthy sense of national pride and craving for international recognition could be partly to blame.

"The Hwang Woo-suk case is a good example that in Korean society there still exists remnants of the past experience of fast growth," said Park Gil-sung, a sociology professor at Korea University. "It's a problem of our social system that desires fast results."

Hailed as the "Pride of Korea," Hwang and all of his purported breakthroughs are now being investigated by science journals and universities.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1435349&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[JeJuJitsu]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/12/23/200512230034.asp

A new drinking trend to substitute "poktanju" (bomb-shot) culture has surfaced during year-end celebrations among working people.
Dubbed the "Hwang Woo-suk poktanju," it involves creating 11 drinks and numbering them 2 to 12. Of these, all except No. 2 and 3 are made just with beer with an empty shot glass inside.

The "poktanju" or "bomb drink," is a mixed drink notoriously popular among Koreans, concocted with beer and a shot of whiskey or soju, intended to be drunk in one shot, to get the party started.

The new drinking trend, invented by Hwang-weary working people, is a parody of Professor Hwang's 11 stem cell lines of which all except for Nos. 2 and 3 are alleged to be faked. The empty shot glass represents the alleged "fakeness."

"While it is fun to engage in such parody, a part of us is in shock and disappointment over the allegations that Hwang's work may be fake," said a 40-year-old man.

The culture of drinking "poktanju" arose out of a desire for people to get drunk quickly and open up to each other away from the reserved atmosphere prevalent in Korean workplaces

[Ya-ta Boy]

the Hwang Woo-Suk poktanju post is hilarious.

[mindmetoo]

Among all of Hwang's stripped accolades, I don't suppose anyone noticed Scientific American stripped him of the magazine's Top 50 Research Leaders list:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D550E-D624-13A1-962483414B7F0000&sc=I100322

Previous article about him here:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0007A829-278E-137E-A47283414B7F0101&sc=I100322

[The Man known as The Man]

[Hollywoodaction]

Another paper, this one written by a different group of SNU researchers, is under investigation.


http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200512/kt2005122522400611780.htm

[riley]

Just read the Scientific American article where they withdraw his name from the top 50 and wow, talk about sounding like a jilted lover. Though I do understand the tone. They and others were tricked.
Did anyone read about how this whole case could harm cloning research in the U.S.? It sounds like some are worried that this mess could give more ammunition for the anti-cloners.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[mindmetoo]

Some serious fourth hand scuttle butt... Yesterday I was out with my friend. Her company's president is an SNU law prof. He is friends with a former professor of Hwang. The prof was saying "back when Hwang was being declared the greatest scientist in living memory, I was scratching my head because his work as a Phd student didn't impress me at all. I even suspected his thesis of some fraud."

And then before his celebrity, when he was a simple prof of veterinary medicine, he had a number of sexual harassment complaints lodged against him by female students. My friend is part of a feminist NGO. When his star was rising, one of his boosters strong armed the sexual harassment office expunge his record.

And he's apparently been married three times.

[Ya-ta Boy]

There's been some problem and the final report won't be out till Jan. 10. Speculation is that the labs doing the checking have turned in conflicting findings.