Kwon Dae-gi, a researcher at Seoul National University who headed the stem cell research team for Hwang Woo-suk’s cloning project, allegedly told a university investigating panel that Dr. Hwang told him to create “fake” samples of eight stem cell lines for DNA fingerprinting tests.
A member of the Seoul National University investigative board said Mr. Kwon had admitted that he created two samples of regular somatic cells and sent one for DNA tests as if they were stem cells. The board did not include that fact in its final report last month, he said, because Mr. Kwon’s testimony did not match Dr. Hwang’s. He said they had given prosecutors a recording of Mr. Kwon’s testimony.
Prosecutors, who have taken over the investigation of the stem cell case, said yesterday they knew nothing of the alleged testimony.