[Editorial] Park Ky Young Should Really Quit

After he was inaugurated, President Roh Moo Hyun announced that his guiding principle for holding public officials responsible would be "scientifically concrete and clear grounds" for action. In other words, he was not going to let public opinion force him to punish members of his staff, and that is why he stood his ground in the face of demands he fire people after the murder of Kim Seon Il in Iraq and the shooting spree in barracks on the DMZ.

It has been the same way with calls for him to take action against advisors who had something to do with Hwang Woo Suk. At the start of the year he said he would wait until he saw someone was legally or professionally responsible, and you cannot criticize him for his principles. Censuring someone for political reasons hurts consistency of policy and responsibility for the work at hand. What about science advisor Park Ky Young? Where does she stand when held up to the president's standards?

Park took on projects from Hwang in 2001 and in 2003. In 2003 she was part of Roh's presidential transition committee, and she headed up a policy subcommittee. Her name was even mentioned a potential first science and technology minister. In 2004, Hwang included her name as one of the coauthors of the article in the journal Science that year, even though she never contributed anything. The relationship was inappropriate for a presidential advisor.

When Hwang reported to her in January 2005 that stem cells had been contaminated, she failed to inform the president. When Hwang said he had cultured eleven patient-specific stem cells in a period of three months, she forgot about having a minimum of healthy suspicion that should have come with being a scientist. Her capability as an advisor should be held in question. Furthermore, she put blinders on the president. She said the allegations about egg donations from Hwang's researchers were not true, and then when allegations that Hwang had falsified data in his articles surfaced she started talking about journalism ethics.

It is still too early to talk about legal responsibility, but the was responsible for misleading the president. When the president makes the wrong judgments it leads to national misfortune. If the president cannot decide what to do she should make her own decision. She said she was willing to resign but that is different from actually doing so.

The Hankyoreh, 18 January 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]