The groundbreaking ceremony for the Hwang Woo-suk Artificial Organ Research Center in the southern Seoul suburb of Suwon has been indefinitely postponed.

Gyeonggi Province on Tuesday announced the event slated for Thursday was postponed since stem cell pioneer Hwang will not attend, but that it will take place as soon as he returns to work.

In the center, Hwang's team will study sterilized pigs in a bid to produce organs for transplant to human patients.