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In the spirit of Soap Opera Digest, here's the summary so far:

• Dr. Hwang claimed to have cloned human embryos, used them to get stem cells, and then developed cell-lines that matched individual sick patients.

• He became the greatest scientist in his nation—named "chief scientist" by the government, showered with prizes, issued a stamp in his honor (showing him beside an empty wheelchair), and awarded free air travel forever.

• Something akin to hysteria spread: Korean women sign up on a website to give him their eggs—including as whole class of high school girls.

• Stories started spreading that he had gotten some of his eggs from junior lab researchers (a big ethics no-no).

• The staffer who told the story denied it.

• Dr. Hwang denied it.

• Dr. Schatten, Dr. Hwang's U.S. collaborator who co-signed his key scientific publication, left Korea and claimed the eggs had been obtained unethically.

• Stories spread of another researcher fleeing to the U.S., and of large sums of money being offered to buy the researcher's silence.

• A Korean TV news show started investigating, supporting the claims of fraud.

• The news show received death threats and was pulled from the air in a show of Korean national pride.

• Dr. Hwang admitted there were problems with the eggs and said he did not know about them, but resigned.

• The Korean government supported him and spoke of the need not to apply Western standards to Korean culture.

• Doubts were cast on the experiments themselves, with vigorous investigation by journalists and scientists in Korea.

• The truth began to come out, though Dr. Hwang kept changing his story.

• Seoul National University conducted its own investigation, which revealed that no human embryos were ever cloned at all.

• Scientific journals took steps to "withdraw" the key articles they had published in what they thought was a great scoop, and stories circulated about the financial incentives and patent applications of Schatten and Dr. Hwang.

• Korean prosecutors raided the homes of Dr. Hwang, his relatives, and colleagues; started investigating him for fraud; and summon Schatten to return to Korea to be questioned.

• Now, the Korean National Bioethics Committee is taking another look and asking afresh whether they should allow cloning research at all.

We have noted the human dimension of this sorry tale, in an account in the Los Angeles Times of a pastor's son, confined to a wheelchair by an accident, whom Dr. Hwang personally promised to make walk again. Now comes the saddest of all these stories. According to a Reuters report, a Korean man has burned himself to death, dowsing himself with paint thinner after distributing fliers calling for support for Dr. Hwang. He left behind a listserv posting urging people to demonstrate in downtown Seoul. The report gives something of the background. The man is a truck driver. He is a member of an internet forum called "I love Hwang Woo-Suk" (Koreans use what we call last names first).

He never did, apparently, take part in the public demonstrations he was encouraging—and which continue. As the reporter puts it, "Thousands of Hwang's supporters have gathered in Seoul every weekend to hold candlelit protests since January."

I had to read this story several times to try and discover what they are protesting about. Because it has now been shown to every informed observer's satisfaction that Hwang is a liar and a fraud, that he played on the fears and hopes of the Korean people and of sick and scared people all over the world. It has been shown that he abused his authority over young women researchers to get their eggs, and got many more from women who were paid cash to take the major risks involved in "donating" theirs (which Korea has just made a crime).

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February (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50