[Editorial] Let's Overcome Crisis in Confidence With the Truth

It has been confirmed that all the data in the 2005 article in journal Science was fabricated. Coauthors like MizMedi Hospital chief administrator Roh Sung Il and professor Mun Sin Yong have asked the journal to let them retract the article. Meanwhile it has also been confirmed that eleven of the patient-specific stem cells on which the article is based do not exist. Whether they never existed in the first place or were ruined in the storage process still needs to be determined, but none of the cell lines the article discusses are still around. A scientific article that has no basis is more than manufactured, it is a falsehood. It becomes an issue so serious that you cannot have your honor restored even by redoing the technical procedure all over again.

Professor Hwang Woo Suk claims that he extracted multiple patient-specific stem cells, and that he wrote the article based on them. He says that the basis for his study can be verified with the stem cells that remain frozen, but that does not overturn the fact the article was a falsification. All it would do is prove that he possesses the technology to culture patient-specific stem cells. Perhaps that is important to the Korean public. The development of treatment-specific stem cells is a big blue chip item that gives promise to the Korean public's future.

If one thing is clear it is the fact that the world is now looking at Korea with a cold attitude, regardless of whether it has the ability to succeed at a rerun of the initial process. To the people of the world, "Korean scientist" means someone who manufactures data to write fake articles. Korea now thought of as a country where the government and most of the media and the population hide the facts even though questions about regarding the authenticity of the research were raised long ago. The people of the world are convinced that Hwang's fellow scientists tried to excuse him of wrongdoing even though there were repeatedly chances for scientific verification of the research's authenticity. There is no way to know what how much that fact will hinder the future for Korean scientists and who much it will harm international confidence. Korea is in a crisis of confidence.

The crude fight between the article's coauthors over who needs to bear responsibility is only sprinkling salt on the people's wound and putting the country's hearts in a state of panic. Assume whatever about Gerald Schatten for a moment. Roh Sung Il has become an evangelist spreading the word about the falsehood of Hwang's research. Hwang suggests it is possible Roh's facility manipulated certain aspects of the research, and he suggests the prosecution needs to investigate. They are behaving in a way that would make even cows laugh. The fighting is making those who once did everything they could to defend Hwang and his researchers feel miserable.

The country needs to be able to move away from this fatal crisis in confidence and popular distress. The only way to do that is for there to be swift clarification of the truth. Seoul National University's inquiry commission has just gotten started, but few people think commission will be able to investigate MizMedi, a private entity, or the National Institute of Scientific Investigation. A state-level body needs to be given official authority and take charge of the inquiry.

That government body would then need to look at the whole process, everything from whether there were eleven stem cell lines to the manufacture of data in the Science article and who was behind it. It would need to determine whether it is MizMedi that is responsible, or whether it was Hwang who ordered the fabrication of data. It would also need to investigate the ethical violations, because even now there are allegations that official influence was used to get women to donate eggs. Why it is that researcher Kim Seon Jong is contradicting his earlier statements must also be ascertained, and there are rumors that an organ of the state was involved in that. There also have to be clear answers to questions about the authenticity of the world's first cloned cow, Yeongnongi, and the first dog, Snuppy, since those research accomplishments have also been cast into doubt as a result of what has been found out about the Science article.

Having the Korean people be in agreement on what must happen will be the strength that pulls the country out of this dire situation. Fortunately it has become clear that the conflict cannot be characterized as something that originated out of a confrontation between people who want to ruin Hwang and those who seek to defend him. It was a conflict between truth and lies. The country needs to be united in ascertaining everything about the truth.

The Hankyoreh, 17 December 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]