South Korea prosecutors seek jail for cloning scientist

       Prosecutors yesterday demanded a four-year prison term for a South Korean scientist disgracedin a cloning scandal that shook the international scientific community and led to his trial on fraud and other charges.
       Hwang Woo-suk was fired from the prestigious Seoul National University after purported breakthroughs, including the claim of producing a human embryo through cloning and recovering stem cells from it, were deemed bogus in 2005, when a key paper was found to contain fake data.
       Once hailed as a national hero. Hwang is accused of accpeting funds under false pretences, embezzlement and illegally buying human eggs for his research, charges tht are related to the fake claims.
       Hwang and his colleagues claimed in 2004 to have produced a human embryo through cloining and to have recovered stem cells from it.
       A year later, Hwang said the team created humann embryonic stem cells genetically matched to specific patients, a purported breakthrough that promised a way to withstand rejection by a patient's immune system.
       But a universityy committee later declared the 2005 paper a fraud based on faked data, and cast boubt on his 2004 findings as well.