Ethics panel head to quit in alleged involvement in Hwang's scandal

The head of a presidential panel which has been investigating ethical issues related to the research of Hwang Woo-suk offered to resign yesterday over his alleged involvement in the scandal, his aide said.
The law firm of panel chairman Yang Sam-sung gave legal advice to Hwang about applying for an injunction to prevent the broadcast of a television program that exposed ethical problems in his research.

After the program "PD Notebook" on the MBC television network was aired on Nov. 22, Hwang discussed possible follow-up measures with his colleagues and Yang.

The following day, Hwang admitted to ethical irregularities in the procurement of human eggs for his research and resigned from all his official positions.

"Yang has announced his intention to resign. He will go through the necessary official steps to resign," Yang's aide was quoted as saying to Yonhap news agency.

Yang is currently in Japan to attend a seminar and is due to return to Korea on Jan. 8.

This latest development has dealt another blow to the reliability of ethics panels which have monitored the research of...