Who is Hwang Woo-suk? Netflix's King of Clones explained
Here's everything you need to know about the subject of Netflix documentary King of Clones, Hwang Woo-suk.
While we love the easy-watch appeal of reality TV shows such as Love Island, it can’t be denied that Netflix’s selection of documentaries is hard to beat.
The streaming service has release some big hitters in recent weeks – including the gripping story Take Care of Maya – and the latest of those is King of Clones.
The doc will follow the story of Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, his amazing experiments, and how his reputation was later left in tatters.
But who exactly is Woo-suk, and what is he doing now? Read on to find out more…
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Who is Hwang Woo-suk?
Born in 1953, Hwang Woo-suk was an animal-cloning expert and veterinary scientist who was labelled a national hero back in 2000.
Branded the ‘Pride of Korea’, Woo-suk - now aged 70 - was considered a pioneering expert in stem cell research.
What did Hwang Woo-suk do?
As far back as the late 1990s, Woo-suk had claimed to clone animals including a dairy cow named Yeongrong-i; and in 2005, he showcased the first cloned dog - Snuppy the Afghan Hound.
However, suspicions began to rise when the expert failed to provide scientifically verifiable data for the research, and instead - bizarrely - opted only to give photo opportunities and media interviews about his work.
Woo-suk then went on to make revolutionary claims that, along with a team of scientists, he had succeeded in creating human embryonic stem cells by cloning. He wrote about his findings in two articles for the publication, Science.
It was shortly after this that fellow publication, Nature, claimed that Woo-suk had committed ‘ethical violations’ and accused him of not only using eggs from the black market, but also from his own graduates.
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Despite initially denying the allegations, Woo-suk admitted they were true in November 2005 and it became apparent that the rest of his revolutionary cloning wasn't genuine.
Around a year later, the South Korean scientist was charged with embezzlement and bioethics law violations when it became clear that the bulk of his stem cell research had been completely faked - which led to him being fired from his role.
While he was cleared of fraud, Woo-suk was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of the charges. He later had his suspended sentence reduced by six months in December 2010 by an appeals court in South Korea.
Where is Hwang Woo-suk now?
Perhaps surprisingly, the shamed scientist is still working within the field – although these days, he keeps a low profile.
He was reportedly last known to be working at Sooam Bioengineering Research Institute and was “leading research efforts into creating cloned pig embryos and embryonic stem-cell lines”.
Chinese biotech company Boyalife Group also recently confirmed a partnership with Woo-suk’s laboratory and said they intended to open the world’s largest animal cloning factory - with the aim of producing up to one million cattle embryos every year in order to meet the increasing demand for quality beef in the continent.
King of Clones is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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