Malice
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk denied Tuesday that he had spent research funds for personal use and said part of the money was used in failed attempts to clone mammoths, extinct relatives of today's elephants.
"Not a single penny was spent for personal use," Hwang testified at the third hearing in his trial on charges of misappropriating funds, embezzlement and illegally purchasing human eggs for research.
Prosecutors on Tuesday wrapped up their first round of questioning Hwang and his five colleagues, who face similar charges. The defendants' lawyers will begin their cross-examination at the next hearing in two months.
Hwang also claimed his team had the technology to produce cloned stem cell lines, saying researchers have been creating non-human stem cells since last year.
"We made stem cells, although they are not human," Hwang said.
Hwang was indicted in May for allegedly accepting 2 billion won (US$2.1 million) in private donations based on the outcome of the falsified research and embezzling about 800 million won ($850,000) in private and government research funds. If convicted, he faces at least three years in prison.
Hwang said Tuesday part of the funds were used to clone mammoths, using tissues of the extinct animal obtained from glaciers.
"We tried three times, but failed all those times," he said, adding his team had also tried to clone tigers.
Hwang admitted to using some of the funds not specifically as intended but claimed "all the money was used for the purpose of research."
However, he acknowledged intentionally using some of the funds in cash, making it difficult to track, "for security concerns since they had to be spent for purposes that could not be publicly disclosed."
Some of the research funds were used on housing for his researchers, gifts and tours for visiting foreign scholars and meals for government officials, Hwang said, which he claimed were "part of research activities in the general sense."
Hwang gained international fame for his purported breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell research after publishing landmark academic articles in 2004 and 2005, but the work unraveled last year amid revelations some data had been forged.
At a trial hearing earlier this month, Hwang admitted to ordering subordinates to falsify stem cell data in a key 2005 paper, saying he told researchers to make it look like they were basing their results on 11 cloned embryonic stem cell lines, rather than the two lines he believed they had.
Even those purported two stem cell lines were later revealed to be fake.
Still, Hwang said his fellow researchers shared the blame for the deception.
On Tuesday, Hwang insisted that he did not deceive donors who supported his stem cell research, maintaining that he had believed his internationally heralded innovations were real.
"I am also a victim who was deceived. I am the biggest victim," he said.
The next trial hearing was scheduled for September 19.
Once treated as a national hero, Hwang has been fired from his job at the country's top school, Seoul National University, and the government is stripping him of his state honors. His work had raised global hopes of new cures for untreatable diseases, using stem cells to grow replacement tissues for therapy that wouldn't be rejected by patients.
Hwang's lawyer said last month that he plans to open a new lab and resume research. His prospects were unclear, however, since he is no longer authorized to conduct such research in South Korea.
"Not a single penny was spent for personal use," Hwang testified at the third hearing in his trial on charges of misappropriating funds, embezzlement and illegally purchasing human eggs for research.
Prosecutors on Tuesday wrapped up their first round of questioning Hwang and his five colleagues, who face similar charges. The defendants' lawyers will begin their cross-examination at the next hearing in two months.
Hwang also claimed his team had the technology to produce cloned stem cell lines, saying researchers have been creating non-human stem cells since last year.
"We made stem cells, although they are not human," Hwang said.
Hwang was indicted in May for allegedly accepting 2 billion won (US$2.1 million) in private donations based on the outcome of the falsified research and embezzling about 800 million won ($850,000) in private and government research funds. If convicted, he faces at least three years in prison.
Hwang said Tuesday part of the funds were used to clone mammoths, using tissues of the extinct animal obtained from glaciers.
"We tried three times, but failed all those times," he said, adding his team had also tried to clone tigers.
Hwang admitted to using some of the funds not specifically as intended but claimed "all the money was used for the purpose of research."
However, he acknowledged intentionally using some of the funds in cash, making it difficult to track, "for security concerns since they had to be spent for purposes that could not be publicly disclosed."
Some of the research funds were used on housing for his researchers, gifts and tours for visiting foreign scholars and meals for government officials, Hwang said, which he claimed were "part of research activities in the general sense."
Hwang gained international fame for his purported breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell research after publishing landmark academic articles in 2004 and 2005, but the work unraveled last year amid revelations some data had been forged.
At a trial hearing earlier this month, Hwang admitted to ordering subordinates to falsify stem cell data in a key 2005 paper, saying he told researchers to make it look like they were basing their results on 11 cloned embryonic stem cell lines, rather than the two lines he believed they had.
Even those purported two stem cell lines were later revealed to be fake.
Still, Hwang said his fellow researchers shared the blame for the deception.
On Tuesday, Hwang insisted that he did not deceive donors who supported his stem cell research, maintaining that he had believed his internationally heralded innovations were real.
"I am also a victim who was deceived. I am the biggest victim," he said.
The next trial hearing was scheduled for September 19.
Once treated as a national hero, Hwang has been fired from his job at the country's top school, Seoul National University, and the government is stripping him of his state honors. His work had raised global hopes of new cures for untreatable diseases, using stem cells to grow replacement tissues for therapy that wouldn't be rejected by patients.
Hwang's lawyer said last month that he plans to open a new lab and resume research. His prospects were unclear, however, since he is no longer authorized to conduct such research in South Korea.
