Private Project

Brave New World

With the birth of Dolly in 1996, the global cloning race began. Hwang Woo-suk, a scientist from South Korea, rose rapidly after cloning the first Korean dairy cow in 1999. Receiving enormous support from the whole nation, he began his quest to clone the first human embryonic stem cell, the “Holy Grail” of genetic engineering. The government, the people, and the media collaborated in making Hwang the Korean superstar scientist. But all his accomplishments were actually series of lies. This is the rise and fall story of a national hero, and the K-spirit that enabled such hoax to be built.

  • Jisun Youm
    Director
    'Modern Korea' documentary series
  • Eunkyung Lee
    Writer
  • JaeHyuk Lee
    Producer
  • Woo Suk Hwang
    Key cast
  • Kijo Kimm
    Art director
  • Minjun Park
    Original Music
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature, Television
  • Genres:
    Archive based, Stem cell scientist, cloning scandal
  • Runtime:
    48 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 3, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Korea, Republic of
  • Country of Filming:
    Korea, Republic of
  • Language:
    Korean
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • KBS Media
    Sales Agent
    Country: Korea, Republic of
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Jisun Youm

YOUM has been working for KBS as a director and producer – culture & current affairs since 2003.
He has directed many programs about food and media, including Noodle Road (2008), Hundred Years’ Soup War (2011), Gogglebox Korea (2015), and Making of Olympic Ceremonies (2018). Since 2019 he has been the series producer for Modern Korea, the 15 part documentary for the KBS Archive Project.

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Director Statement

“Science has no borders. But a scientist needs his fatherland.” -Dr. Hwang Woo-suk

Nationalism was very prevalent in the science community as it served as the tool of developing Korean economy. Dr. Hwang utilized this to quickly achieve his goal of becoming the first globally recognized Korean scientist. But the fallen Supreme Scientist of South Korea reflects how fragile the self-esteem of Korea was as a whole. All the materials were made using only the footages from the KBS archives.