Seoul (AsiaNews) The national University of Seoul launched construction of medical bioengineering laboratory on 12 August. The laboratory on Kwanak campus in the south of Seoul is destined for Hwang Woo-suk, the man who cloned embryonic stem cells. Strong protests have come from the Christian community, especially against the government decision to pay all construction expenses amounting to some 25 billion won (around 25 million US dollars).
The Science and Technology Ministry will pay for construction and it has announced that it intends to call the new complex "the Hwang Woo-suk research centre". Prime Minister Lee Hae-can, Lee Myung-bak, mayor of Seoul and Chung Un-chan, President of the University, addressed the inauguration ceremony.
The laboratory which will be finished in October 2006 will host research activities around experiments on [mammal] primates, stem cell research, animal cloning and research projects for transplants of cells and molecular biology.
According to university sources, famous overseas research centres plan to set up branch offices in the new complex to conduct research together with Prof. Hwang. Among them is the research group led by Gerald Schatten of the School of Medicine of Pittsburgh University and that led by Ian Wilmut, the Scottish embryologist from Roslin Institute who cloned the sheep "Dolly", the first man in the world to achieve something of the sort.
The research centre will boast five floors aboveground and two underground and it will be constructed across an area of 1,646 square metres. The National Intelligence Service will set up a task force to guarantee impenetrable security to the centre.
