The national bioethics deliberation committee will decide early next month whether to approve the resumption of human embryonic stem cell research, which has been suspended since scientist Hwang Woo-suk's fraud scandal.

In a meeting Saturday, the committee deliberated over two plans submitted by the Health Ministry, one to permit the research and the other to ban it, but failed to reach an agreement.

However, saying that there has been sufficient discussion on the matter, committee members will cast a final vote on it early next month at the latest.

Meanwhile, the committee finalized a revised bioethics, which requires egg and sperm donors to give written consent, and bans minors and women who haven't had children yet from donating eggs.