Què feia a Líbia el científic coreà que va anunciar una falsa clonació humana?

Nature.com / The Great Beyond

With a 2-year delayed sentence pending, Hwang has tried to rebuild his career, and private sources helped him to build the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

But rumors that Hwang would rise again to great heights in faraway lands keep popping up. There have been rumors that Harvard and other top US universities were recruiting him. There were rumors that Thailand was recruiting him.

Now, in the latest twist of the Hwang tale, Korean media is reporting that Libya was trying to nail down a W153 billion (US$1=W1,127) collaboration with Hwang.

According to the Korea Times, Hwang traveled to Libya on 10 February to discuss the collaboration. According to Yonhap news, Hwang has traveled there some 10 times since 2004 and received a retainer of 600,000 euros for collaborating on stem cell research aimed at incurable diseases.

The current deal was supposed to include a research center in Libya and the transfer of cloning-related technology from Hwang. According to the Chosun Ilbo, Hyun Sang-hwan, who directs the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation founded by Hwang, Hwang was to sign a collaborative agreement with a company called DANA Bioscience and Medical Service recently established by Libya. The signing was reportedly canceled and the agreement thrown into jeopardy by the protests there. Reporters spotted Hwang at the Tripoli airport, one of 198 being evacuated by the Korean government.

No doubt this is not the end of the story.