Professor Hwang Calls for “Human Cloning Research” in the U.N.

On October 13, “Superman” Christopher Reeve who died on October 10 will join Seoul National University’s Professor Hwang Woo-seok in his call for therapeutic cloning research before a press conference at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

Professor Hwang, who succeeded in cloning stem cells from a human embryo for the first time in the world, is planning to emphasize the justification and inevitability of cloning research while the former actor Reeve will appear in a footage videotaped before his death.

This press conference is being held by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations and U.S. NGOs such as GPI and CAMR aimed at persuading opposing countries before the discussion of U.N. resolution to ban human cloning takes place on October 21 and 22.

Reeve, who had been advocating stem cell research, was scheduled to participate in person or send video messages, but he ended up being screened in a footage earlier filmed due to his sudden death.

Currently in the U.N., while some 60 nations are supporting a complete ban on human cloning research proposed by Costa Rica, around 20 are for the legalization of therapeutic cloning presented by a few countries, including Korea and Belgium.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com