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Clone cult firm raided in South Korea
BBC News (30.12.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (07.01.2003) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -Prosecutors in South Korea have seized documents from a biotechnology company linked to a controversial sect which claims to have created the world's first cloned baby.
After raiding the offices of BioFusion Tech Inc. in the southern city of Daegu, officials questioned members of staff to see whether they had taken part in the cloning project.
Cloning is not illegal in South Korea, but prosecutors may be investigating whether staff have been carrying out medical research without a licence.
Last week, scientists from Clonaid - a US-based firm linked to the Raelian sect - said that they had helped a woman give birth to a cloned baby girl.
However, the announcement has been viewed with deep scepticism by the scientific community at large - and no proof has so far been put forward.
Raid
"The investigators broke through windows into my house and the offices in Seoul and Daegu to seize documents," BioFusion Tech Inc. spokesman Kwak Gi-Hwa told the AFP news agency.
Mr Kwak said he and the firms president were banned from leaving the country.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency also reported that the prosecutors interrogated a South Korean woman, who had allegedly signed up for the cloning project.
BioFusion Tech Inc. - Clonaid's South Korean subsidiary - has been under investigation since July, after the firm said three South Korean women were taking part in the project and one of them was pregnant with a cloned foetus.
Clonaid began its operation in South Korea this year, and about 5,000 Koreans are believed to follow the Raelian cult.
Human cloning is not illegal in South Korea, and a bill outlawing the practice is currently being debated in the parliament.
But if officials without licences are found to have carried out any medical research, they could face up to five years in jail or $18,000 in fines, according to Yonhap agency.
Alien project
Clonaid is linked to the Raelian sect, whose founder, Claude Vorilhon describes himself as a prophet and calls himself Rael.
The Raelians believe humans are the result of a genetic engineering project run by super-intelligent extra-terrestrials.
Clonaid has been racing against the Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori to produce the first cloned baby.
Mr Antinori has claimed that one of his patients will give birth to a cloned baby in January.
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Will South Korea find peaceful resolution for conscientious objectors?
Office for Public Information (18.03.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (06.05.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - A decision by the Constitutional Court that is due in the very near future will determine the future of some 1,600 young men, most of whom are now serving three-year jail sentences in South Korea. This prison termthe maximum allowable sentence under Military Criminal Lawis being served by young Jehovah's Witnesses who consistently refuse military service on religious grounds and who make up almost all conscientious objectors in South Korea.
In December 2001, however, Mr. Taeyang Oh, a 26-year-old Buddhist and pacifist also refused military conscription on the grounds that it would violate his religious and moral beliefs. Since Mr. Oh may be the first non-Witness conscientious objector in South Korea, his case has far reaching implications. The outcome could indicate whether Jehovah's Witnesses are being singled out for religious persecution or whether South Korea must address larger human rights issues that apply to all citizens, regardless of their religious beliefs.
On January 29, 2002, the stakes were raised when a judge granted the probation request of a 21-year-old Witness conscientious objector, instead of sending him to prison. Judge Park Sihwan of the South District Criminal Court of Seoul also granted a defense motion to refer the case to the nation's Constitutional Court. At issue was whether current law, which only imposes punishment and has no provision for alternative civilian service, may be in violation of basic rights guaranteed by South Korea's constitution. The Witness is currently free on bail, pending the Constitutional Court's decision.
President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea received the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on democracy, human rights, and reconciliation with North Korea. Today, however, his country faces a human rights dilemma that focuses on South Korea's policy toward peacemakers.
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