Colleague of embattled scientist Hwang asks university to investigate earlier work

SEOUL, South Korea _ A former colleague of embattled South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk said Wednesday he had asked the scientist's university to widen its investigation into his work and review earlier purported breakthroughs.
Moon Shin-yong, who played a key role in the research, told The Associated Press he has asked Seoul National University to investigate a paper in which Hwang claims to have created the world's first cloned human embryos and to have extracted stem cells from them. The paper was published last year in the journal Science.

Moon, who is also a Seoul National University professor, was questioned by the university Wednesday.

"In the scientific community, when one paper is proven to be fabricated, it is customary to review all related papers," Moon told AP by telephone. He added that he does not yet know of any problem with the article.

Hwang has published two papers in Science.

Moon's comments came a day after the journal said it was investigating the 2004 study, which first brought Hwang Woo-suk to prominence.

At issue are two vital photographs...