SEOUL, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The South Korean government on Thursday revoked the disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk's license on embryonic stem cell research, two months after Hwang's relevant papers were faked.

    "The health ministry revoked permission for Professor Hwang Woo-Suk's team to conduct embryonic stem cell research," said a statement of South Korean Ministry of Heath and Welfare (MOHW).

    The statement said that in order to receive a license, a scientist must have researched in the field for more than three years and published a paper in a significant journal at least once during that time.

    Earlier this year, Hwang's team was found to have fabricated key data in the two papers published in U.S. journal of Science in 2004 and 2005. The famous journal had already retracted the two papers of Hwang.

    "With the withdrawal of the (2004) paper by Science, a legal deficiency arose, and the revocation of the research license was inevitable," the ministry said, adding Hwang had no other significant publications on stem cell research over the past three years.

    Hwang's lab is the only lab permitted by the government to conduct such sensitive research. Thursday's ban means no authorized embryonic stem cell work is currently under way in the country, the ministry said.

    With the revoke, Hwang's team was banned from cloning or receiving human eggs for stem cell research, the statement said.

    The ministry added it will decide whether to approve new stem cell research after revising the life ethics law, which took effect on January 2005.

    Hwang, 52, currently is under investigation of the country's prosecution. He admitted earlier this month that he was involved in fabricating data of the 2005 paper.

    In the 2005 paper, Hwang claimed his team had created 11 patient-specific stem cells through cloning.

    Stem cells are primal undifferentiated cells which retain the ability to differentiate into other cell types. Medical researchers believe stem cell research has the potential to find new way to treat hard-to-cure diseases by developing stem cells to specific tissues or organs. Enditem