Professor Hwang Woo-seok Refused One Trillion Won Offer from the U.S.

Hwang Woo-seok, a Seoul National University professor who succeeded in cloning embryonic stem cells using human eggs for the first time in the world, is known to have rejected an offer of more than one trillion won in research funds on Tuesday from a state government of the United States to work there.

A high-ranking government official at Cheong Wa Dae said on the same day, “A state government of the U.S. made an offer to provide more than one trillion won in research funds to attract Professor Hwang. However, I understand that Professor Hwang rejected this offer, believing his research results should be utilized at the national level for his own country.”

He added, “It is not true that Cheong Wa Dae formed a special support team for Professor Hwang’s research as was reported in some media outlets. Still, it has been watching his research activities with special interest. If necessary, government offices such as the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health and Welfare will prepare measures to support him at the government level.”

Professor Hwang is currently negotiating with the government to proceed with a research project, which has much bigger added value than the stem-cell research he has been doing so far, as a joint project with the government. Professor Hwang is known to have started developing a new technology that doesn’t require human or animal eggs to clone stem cells, in order to particularly avoid ethical problems.

Jung-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com