A Scientific Scandal

Stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo Suk, whose groundbreaking cloning of human embryos thrust South Korea to the forefront of bioscience research, is fighting for his professional life in a controversy that is degenerating into one of the biggest scientific scandals in years.

Hwang and his team of researchers at Seoul National University stunned the medical community in May when, in a study published in the U.S. journal Science , he reported that he had successfully produced tailor-made stem cells from 11 cloned human embryos—an unprecedented feat. Though controversial, Hwang's research was hailed as a breakthrough because it appeared to move...