SKorea's top court upholds suspended prison term on disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's top court has upheld a suspended prison term on disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk on criminal charges related to faked research.

A lower court in 2010 sentenced Hwang to 18 months in prison for embezzling research funds and illegally buying human eggs. But the court suspended the penalty.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday made that ruling final. He will stay free unless he breaks laws in the next two years.

Hwang scandalized the international scientific community in 2005 when his breakthrough human cloning research involving embryonic stem cells was found to have been faked.

Hwang and his former colleagues created the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005, and that achievement was independently confirmed.