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In-young Park

In-young Park

Female Research Assistant

In-young Park is a 25-year-old daughter of a middle-class family whose father works for the national government in a budgeting office. She works as a research assistant to Kun Chung and voluntarily donated her eggs under a false name.


Questions:

1. How did you first get involved in Kun Chung’s research?
I was actually working for Kun Chung as a technician in his laboratory at the National Veterinary University in Seoul. One of my older brothers had worked for another researcher there, and I knew that Kun Chung was one of the more prominent scientists in the country. He has an international reputation. When Kun Chung was offered a very prestigious position here at the stem cell center, he offered me a research assistant position, and I quickly accepted the offer. It is an honor to work for him, especially at this new center that will soon become internationally recognized for its excellence in biotechnology research.
2. Tell me about your most recent research project with Kun Chung.
As you may have heard on the news, Kun Chung’s team at the stem cell center became well known last year for being the first scientists in the world to clone a dairy cow. Since then, Kun Chung has received several grants and monetary awards allowing him to further his research interests into the development and application of human embryonic stem cells.
3. Why did you decide to donate?
I am very proud to work for Kun Chung, and this job allows me the unique opportunity to serve my country in a capacity that I am most able to do so. I volunteered to go through the procedure to donate my eggs to the project – he was even kind enough to drive me to the hospital where the procedure was to take place. Everything followed the ethical standards we were instructed to follow for this research – I was aware of the risks of participating and undergoing the procedure, I signed the informed consent form, and I was not given any money in return for my donation.
4. Do you wish you had done anything differently?
I suppose if I do regret one thing, it might be donating under a false name. You see, this seemed like a good thing to do at the time because I wanted my privacy protected, and you know what a stir it would create if the media found out that Kun Chung’s lab assistants were donating their own eggs. After all, the donors’ names were confidential, so how would anyone find out which ones were mine? It didn’t seem to matter who donated.
5. Have you heard the recent news coverage of Kun Chung’s controversy regarding his research? How do you feel about it?
I think that some people do not understand why Kun Chung did some of the things that he did in his research, or how scientific research works. They need to give him a chance to explain why the things that happened did. For instance, I don’t think that my donating eggs for the research project was necessarily unethical. Just because someone in another country far away from South Korea says that it is does not make it unethical to me. I am still proud to be working for him and will stand by his important research at the stem cell center.

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