- Fraudulent hero -
He was lauded as a national hero in South Korea before it emerged that his research was fraudulent and riddled with ethical lapses.
Hwang was given a two-year suspended prison sentence in 2009, after being convicted of embezzlement and bioethical violations.
Sooam Biotech clones many animals, including cattle and pigs for medical research and breed preservation, but is best known for its commercial dog service.
The process involves harvesting a mature cell from the dog to be copied and transferring its DNA to a donor egg cell that has had its own genetic material removed.
The cell and the egg are "fused" with an electrical jolt, and the resulting embryo is implanted in a surrogate mother dog, which will give birth about two months later.
Despite the $100,000 price tag, requests for the service have poured in from around the world, Wang said -- around half from North America.
Some have sought clones of other pets like cats, snakes and even chinchillas, but Wang said the demand for such animals was too small to justify the cost.
Walls around the five-storey Sooam Biotech centre are adorned with dozens of photos of cloned dogs and their smiling owners -- tagged with their national flags including the US, Mexico, Dubai, Russia, Japan, China and Germany.
"(The clients) understand that a clone is not an identical twin of the original pet, but has a lot of genetic predispositions and the potential to develop as the original pet," Wang said.
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