The Scientist : NewsBlog Print: Korean crackdown on research
The Scientist: NewsBlog:
Korean crackdown on research
Posted by Alison McCook
[Entry posted at 10th September 2007 04:00 PM GMT]

South Korean universities are apparently cracking down on research fraud following the admission by several high-profile Korean scientists (led by Woo Suk Hwang at Seoul National University) that they fabricated findings that they derived embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos.

According to The Korean Times, 96 public and private Korean laboratories have established "verification systems" set to derail plagiarism and fabricated findings. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, this type of checking system was previously present at only 15 schools or institutions. The ministry plans to also disseminate an ethics guidebook next month.

Earlier this year, Korea University president Lee Pil Sang resigned after less than two months when an investigation concluded he plagiarized six papers.


 

Rate this article

Rating: 1.75/5 (4 votes )


Comment on this blog


Not Korean - a universal human question
by Eugene

[Comment posted 2007-09-13 15:10:24]
You wrote:
"having success and integrity ... can often lead to an internal conflict that compromises one at the expense of the other" -- that's a faulty philosophy, which I believe only a few Koreans follow (I am Russian BTW). If you (whatever national) are a good decent person, there CAN NOT ABSOLUTELY be a compromise between success and integrity otherwise THAT IS NOT A SUCCESS (successful robber, impressive killer...)
I do not believe there is a big national problem of being or not being honest -- for any nation.


Pressure to succeed vs Integrity
by Michael

[Comment posted 2007-09-12 20:13:21]
As a Korean-American, I feel the biggest problem with the Korean society is the opposing pressures that are placed on all individuals.

There is an enormous amount of pressure to succeed academically, and almost an equal amount of pressure to maintain integrity. This isn't to imply that other societies don't emphasize both success and integrity, but it seems that there's usually more emphasis on one versus the other. The Koreans seem to believe you can have both, but the result is often an emphasis on success at the expense of integrity, as seen by the recent admissions of falsification of data.

Since we should be learning from our mistakes, I hope the Korean society realizes that having success and integrity as two of the top goals in life can often lead to an internal conflict that compromises one at the expense of the other. It's time to accept failure, which the Koreans are known for not tolerating, as something that can be positive, and hopefully that will carry over into fewer issues with integrity.


Comment on this blog