Hwang Woo-Suk, the disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist, is part of a research team in South Korea requesting permission to work on human embryonic stem cells, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

Hwang was one of eight researchers from the Suam Biotechnology Institute, a lab he founded last year, who filed the request, an anonymous official at the South Korean Health Ministry's bioethics and safety bureau told the Agence France-Presse.

Jung Tae-gil, an official at the Ministry, told the AP that the Ministry will decide by April 2008 whether to approve the request.

Hwang is still on trial for fabricating data on his work on human cloning. He left his post at Seoul National University in 2005 following accusations of misconduct.