COMMENT The downfall of Hwang Woo-suk, the Seoul scientist whose genius turned out to lie in fabricating data rather than in cloning human embryos, has dealt a humiliating blow to South Korea?s ever-prickly national pride. It is also a cautionary lesson for other east Asian countries as they step up their drive to build advanced knowledge-based economies.
Across the region, a race is on to scale the commanding heights of science and technology. Money is being poured into lavishly equipped laboratories and into elite educational institutions. Ambitious research programmes are proliferating, aimed at gaining leadership in areas that governments believe will enhance both economic development and national prestige.
