Yes, It Can Get Worse in Korea.
Pressian, a Seoul-based online news site, on Sunday reported Hwang may have ordered a subordinate to fabricate photos of nine stem cell batches from just two cell lines that were presented to Science.Pressian said that it acquired transcripts of an interview with Kim Sun-jong, a member of Hwang's team who is currently at the University of Pittsburgh, made by ``PD Notebook,'' MBC network's investigative news program. MBC delayed the airing of the program containing the interview.
``This April Hwang made me create many pictures with two stem cell lines. It was work that should not have been done. But I was not in a position to disobey the order,'' Kim said in the transcript. Kim added he had received stem cell lines No. 2 and No. 3 from Hwang and made photos for other stem cell batches, possibly from No. 4 to No. 12.
In response, Hwang's team argued that Kim had made these remarks after coercion by MBC."