Two rescue dogs that Hwang Woo-suk cloned from German shepherds of pedigree will be deployed to rescue scenes.

National 119 Rescue Services under the control of the National Emergency Management Agency signed an agreement with Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, Wednesday, to produce their life-saving rescue dogs. Hwang serves the foundation as chief technology officer.

During the signing ceremony at the rescue services in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, as part of its 17th anniversary, the foundation donated two cloned dogs.

The two male shepherds were born in 2002, and internationally certified as special-purpose dogs.

Sooam Biotech Research Foundation generated seven dogs through somatic cell cloning this year, and donated two of them to National 119 Rescue Services. The two dogs will undergo training for two years before being allowed out in the field.

Under the accord, Sooam Biotech Research Foundation will select dogs of good strain at the request of National 119 Rescue Services, and clone them by transgenic technology.

The rescue services expect the agreement to help shorten the rescue training period for candidate dogs.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)