KB News Desk
Hwang Woo-suk was once celebrated as the face of South Korea’s scientific ambitions. Twenty-two years later, the government has stripped the disgraced stem cell researcher of its highest science honor.
President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday approved the revocation of Hwang’s Top Science and Technology Award, finalizing a process that had been delayed for years by a legal dispute over procedural flaws, the government said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Science and ICT asked the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in March to withdraw the honor. The Interior Ministry then sought presidential approval, which is required both to confer and revoke the award.
Hwang, a former Seoul National University professor, received the award and 300 million won ($201,000) in prize money in 2004 for what was then hailed as groundbreaking research on human embryonic stem cells.
His reputation began to unravel the following year, when questions emerged over the source of human eggs used in his studies. Some were later found to have been obtained from junior researchers in his laboratory.
Public support initially remained strong. A Realmeter survey conducted in January 2006 found that 70.6 percent of respondents wanted Hwang to resume his research.
Sentiment shifted after a Seoul National University investigation concluded that his landmark stem cell findings were based on fabricated data.
The government first revoked Hwang’s award in 2020, but a court later overturned the decision, ruling that officials had failed to allow him to present his case before withdrawing the honor.
After the Supreme Court upheld that ruling in April 2023, the Science Ministry restarted the revocation process. Tuesday’s presidential approval brought the case to a close.
