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The newly appointed head of South Korea's Science, Technology and Innovation Office stepped down over a decade-old research fraud scandal, The Korea Times and Korea Herald reported. Park Ky-young was previously a senior adviser to former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun until 2006, when she resigned over a scandal in which a leading stem cell scientist, Hwang Woo-suk, was accused of fabricating data. Park was a co-author on one of Hwang's papers.
Park's appointment as South Korea's chief science officer earlier this week prompted opposition from hundreds of scientists, including a statement from 288 professors at Seoul National University, who described it as an "insult to all scientists in Korea … She must not take the post and be allowed to make decisions over how the country's R&D budget of 20 trillion won [$17.5 billion] should be allocated."
After initially resisting calls to step down, Park did so Friday. "I once again apologize for disappointing the people and causing continuous controversies," Park, a professor of biology at Sunchon National University, said in a written statement. "I sincerely hope that the Science, Technology and Innovation Office performs its role as the nation's science control tower and that my resignation may act as an opportunity for unity and development in science."
