[totorovirus]

As a Korean, I had a feeling this might unfold in this way. It's truly disheartening to witness Korean academia repeating a familiar pattern – this rush to make a splash globally, it's like history repeating itself. We remember back in 2009, when Dr. Woo Suk Hwang claimed the first successful human embryo cloning, only for it to unravel as a fraud (source: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/world/asia/27clone.html). With LK-99, I couldn't help but notice the same signs that triggered my skepticism back then. The tale is familiar – researchers hungry for funding, limited interaction with the global scientific community, and bold declarations of "innovation" that likely could have occurred despite less-than-ideal research conditions. Their bold claims to their break through resonates with the typical korean cinderella narrative - overcoming harsh conditions, through relentless determination to achieve the goal, just like we made such a rapid growth from basically ruins to OECD membership in less than a century. It is a common pattern in research proposals in korea to tout the patriotism of government officials in this manner. I see this incident as a extension of that research culture in korea. I too have enjoyed the hype and hoped it to be true but sadly it turned out to be another false pursuit for attention.