Raelian Movement and Human Cloning Claim

A secret gathering held among Korean members of the Raelian Movement, which is stealing spotlight for its claim about the first human cloning, will be aired on TV for the first time. `Looking for Truth,` an SBS documentary series set to be aired at 10:50 p.m. on January 18, will investigate into the movement and its human cloning experiments.

The production team of the series accompanied Korean Raelian members, who recently held a 2 nights and 3 days meeting at a location near Seoul. Raelian members deny the matrimonial system and have sex with a number of partners calling for free sex. During the gathering, they often touched each other showing a pattern of their unique behaviors. They claim that humans can feel utmost pleasure and purify their cells by listening to the voice from the outer space and opening up their five senses.

It is estimated that there are some 50,000 Raelian members throughout the world and about 1,500 in Korea. They insist that extra-terrestrials called `Elohims` created human beings using cloning technology, and go on to say that humans can live happy ever after free from diseases and pain through cloning.

The series also launched a scrutiny into whether Clonaid, a cloning firm run by the Raelian, generated the world`s first cloned baby `Eve` as they insist. The first cloned mammal Dolly the sheep was born after 256 failed attempts and scientists say it takes some 200 surrogate mothers and 2000 eggs to clone a single baby.

The series also offers information about K, a good-looking young Korean woman said to apply for the cloning experiment. The Seoul prosecutor`s office said that she is a 34-year-old nude model and left the country in October last year after an initial investigation.

Seung-Hoon Cheon raphy@donga.com