South Korean researcher Hwang Woo- suk made a public apology on Thursday for fabrication in his two papers on stem cells published in U.S.-based journal of Science.

"I sincerely apologize to the nation for using erroneous data in the papers," said Hwang at a press conference held at Press Center Building in central Seoul.

His apology came two days after Seoul National University (SNU) concluded Hwang had never created embryonic stem cells and that he played a part in the fabrication of data for at least one of his papers published by Science in 2004 and 2005.

He also admitted he had paid a "small amount" of compensation to ova donors and used ova donated by two fellow researchers in his team during the stem cell research.

However, he maintained his previous stance that someone switched his original stem cell lines with vitro fertilized samples brought from MizMedi Hospital, a fertility clinic in Seoul.

Hwang hinted the MizMedi Hospital, which was responsible for procuring human eggs for Hwang's team, also played major role in the scandal.

The South Korean government decided on Wednesday to stop financial aid and to strip him of his status as the nation's first "Top Scientist".

Source: Xinhua