Stem cell researcher Hwang seeks to regain Korean citizenship

Disgraced stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk says he has applied to regain South Korean citizenship after becoming a United Arab Emirates national.

The former Seoul National University professor told The Asia Business Daily in an interview Monday that he was awaiting the Justice Ministry’s decision on his application. He lost his Korean citizenship after acquiring UAE nationality on April 9.

Hwang said he reported the loss of his Korean citizenship to the South Korean Embassy in the UAE that day and later applied to regain it on the embassy’s guidance.

He serves as CEO of UAE Biotech Research Center, an Abu Dhabi-based research institution, where he works on animal cloning and stem cell research.

Hwang told The Asia Business Daily that he had been invited for tea.

“I was contacted and invited to have a cup of tea, but when I arrived, it was a surprise ceremony granting me citizenship,” he said.

Hwang said the host of the ceremony announced that the UAE would allow him to hold both citizenships. His application to regain South Korean citizenship remains subject to approval by the Korean justice minister.

Under South Korea’s Nationality Act, those who regain Korean citizenship generally must renounce their foreign nationality within a year.

People who qualify for an exception, including eligible former South Korean citizens aged 65 or older who return to settle permanently, may instead pledge not to exercise their foreign nationality in Korea.

Hwang rose to international prominence for animal cloning and purported breakthroughs in human embryonic stem cell research. His stem cell papers were later found to contain fabricated data, and Seoul National University dismissed him in 2006.

In 2014, the Supreme Court upheld his 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for offenses including embezzlement of research funds.

In July, the government revoked a presidential science and technology award Hwang received in 2004. The Supreme Court in 2023 upheld a ruling that overturned the government’s first attempt to revoke the award in 2020 on procedural grounds. The government then restarted the process.