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The familiar voice sounded
faint over the cell phone on Monday morning, with a ring of weariness
from too much happening too fast. But Prof. Hwang Woo-suk has been
through much in recent weeks: he has been hounded by investigative
reporters, apologized for ethical lapses as he pushed ahead with
ground-breaking research, and quit all his official posts. It has now
been 11 days since he told his inner circle, "I hate the world,�� and
left the city for the respite of a secluded country home. A member of his team had put the Chosun Ilbo in touch with the
professor, who was probably speaking from somewhere outside Seoul. Told
that many hope he will come back soon and continue his research, the
cloning pioneer��s voice changed "It's been a very agonizing and
tremendously difficult time for me, both physically and mentally,�� he
admits. ��I really just wanted to leave it all behind.�� "In this climate, I��ve started to wonder what hope there is
for scientific research," he says. But then a plea for patience: "With
the situation being what it is, please wait. Once things calm down, and
science can once again be seen as science��" Hwang does not conceal his sense that he has been unfairly
accused and hurt by the controversy stirred by ��PD Diary�� and its
overzealous questioning of his research. ��I don��t understand why
non-scientific parties are involving themselves in scientific matters,��
he says. ��Science has an independent path to follow, and its own
process.�� There is also sense of shock that it was a researcher on his
team, which includes favorite students, who triggered the "PD Diary"
campaign by contacting journalists with smears about the integrity of
his research results. ��It��s awful that such a malicious allegation is
at the root of all the problems,�� he says.
On Sunday afternoon Prof. Ahn Cu-rie from Seoul National
University's Medical School and veterinarians Prof. Lee Byeong-chun and
Prof. Kang Sung-keun gathered somewhere in Gyeonggi province, where
Hwang has been staying. Their discussion how to deal with the situation
lasted until late into the night. ��Prof. Hwang is staying with his
wife,�� Lee reported later. ��He hasn��t been doing the exercises he used
to do every day, and he hasn��t been eating properly, so he��s not in
good shape.�� Lee says Hwang sometimes reads the papers and watches TV,
but avoids MBC. ��I've tried to call and encourage him to come back, but once I
hear the fatigue in his voice, I just don��t have the heart to say
anything," Lee says. ��I am sad because he doesn��t seem to have
recovered the will to continue his work.�� The SNU team has decided to encourage their boss to go back to
work in the middle of this week because ongoing research could suffer
if he stays away much longer. Thursday would be the earliest day that
is likely. On the day, the geneticist would go straight back to the lab
after a quick message to the nation via the research team. Hwang himself would not confirm it, saying merely, "We'll see
you soon. Thank you." Under the circumstances, that little word ��soon��
was crucial. ([email protected] )
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