Across Asia: South Korea

Jail sought for scientist

Prosecutors demanded a four-year prison term yesterday for a South Korean scientist disgraced in 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 accepting funds under false pretenses, embezzling and illegally buying human eggs for his research - charges that are related to the fakery claims.