Many simply groped for words to describe their shock, but others were angry. "What an extraordinary tale of fraud. What have we been doing protecting him?" said one Internet user. Still others would not believe what they read and stuck by the geneticist. “Keep your head up, Prof. Hwang! I trust you,” one wrote. Another was more forceful still: “It must be a lie. Don’t tell a lie, today isn’t April Fool’s day.” Another Netizen who said, “If this is true, it is a huge disgrace to the country,” summed up the worries of many.

The online club “I love HWS,” which had brought together the Seoul National University professor’s hardcore supporters over the last few weeks, reverberated with disappointment. “Did Prof. Hwang deceive people in the country and in the world as well? I can’t believe how that happened,” one supported wrote. Another took issue with Roh Sung-il, the chief of MizMedi Hospital, who went public on Thursday saying the stem cells Hwang pictured to support his claim in Science did not exist. “I can’t understand why Roh dropped this bombshell now. If he is right, it means Prof. Hwang cooked up the biggest fraud in the history of science. Is it really true that there are no stem cells? A few days ago, people were shocked to hear the DNA fingerprints were fabricated. And now we face the absurdity that there are no stem cells either.”

But among the clamor were some voices calling for calm. “I can understand your feelings, but the most important thing is the truth. Let’s be calm and see how things develop,” one user said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )