Korea’s most prestigious science and technology award, which was received by former Seoul National U..

Korea’s most prestigious science and technology award, which was received by former Seoul National University professor Hwang Woo-seok, who caused a big stir in the scientific community by manipulating stem cell papers, eventually disappeared into history.

Although the government’s disposition was invalidated by the court once due to procedural defects, the final cancellation was confirmed 22 years after the award as the government supplemented it and took the process again.

According to related ministries on the 15th, the Ministry of Science and ICT asked the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in March to cancel Hwang’s increase in Korea’s highest science and technology, and President Lee Jae Myung approved it on the 14th. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security will soon publish the cancellation in the official gazette.

The Korea’s highest science and technology award is given to researchers who have contributed greatly to the development of science and technology in Korea, and both awards and cancellations are the most prestigious awards in the field of science and technology that must be approved by the president.

In recognition of his achievements in research on human embryonic stem cells, Hwang emerged as a representative researcher in the domestic scientific community with a prize of 300 million won in 2004.

However, in 2005, suspicion of fabricating stem cell papers arose, and the following year, he was fired by Seoul National University. The government canceled the status of the highest scientist and the creation of the Science and Technology Medal one after another, but the increase in the highest science and technology was maintained due to the lack of relevant regulations at the time.

The government decided to cancel the award for the first time in 2020 after overhauling regulations. However, in an administrative lawsuit filed by former professor Hwang, the court ruled the government’s disposition invalid, citing procedural defects that did not sufficiently guarantee the opportunity to submit opinions, not the reason for cancellation itself, and the Supreme Court also confirmed it in 2023.

Since then, the Ministry of Science and ICT has gone through supplementary procedures, such as proceeding with the procedure pointed out by the court again and giving former professor Hwang an opportunity to submit his opinion, and requested cancellation again. With the approval of the president, former professor Hwang’s Korea’s highest science and technology award was finally deprived 22 years after winning the award.

The decision also cost Hwang all of the nation’s top science and technology awards, which had been maintained since the thesis manipulation scandal.