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July 26, 2014

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Son of sunken ferry owner finally caught

Source: Agencies | July 26, 2014, Saturday | Print Edition

SOUTH Korean police detained the eldest son of the sunken ferry owner yesterday after two months on the run, three days after his billionaire father was confirmed dead.

Yoo Dae-gyun was picked up from an office south of Seoul along with a woman accused of helping his fugitive life, Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said.

Yoo is a major shareholder in Chonghaejin Marine Co, the operator of the ferry that sank in April. His father, Yoo Byung-eun, had founded the predecessor of Chonghaejin.

For months, authorities had sought the two saying embezzlement and other alleged corruption by the Yoo family may have contributed to the April 16 disaster that left 294 people dead and 10 still missing. Most of the victims were high school students.

The body of the elder Yoo, 73, was discovered in a southern rural area by a resident on June 12. But it was mistaken as a homeless man’s despite nearby clues to its identity, and authorities continued their massive manhunt for over a month, raising public criticism about ineptness of police and prosecutors.

DNA testing confirmed the body was that of the elder Yoo late on Tuesday, and the National Forensic Service, South Korea’s state-run forensic lab, said yesterday that due to decomposition, it could not determine the cause of his death.

Authorities did not even suspect the body could be Yoo’s until recently — even though his body was found near a villa police raided in May and items found near the remains could have offered clues about his identity. DNA tests took about 40 days and critics say officials could have done it sooner if they suspected it was him.

The tests revealed no evidence that Yoo was poisoned, and there was also no indication of external trauma, forensic agency chief Seo Joong-seok said.

“We are aware there are many questions and did our best, but it was impossible to determine the cause of death,” Lee Han-young, a senior official at the forensic agency, added.

“It is possible in some cases involving decomposed bodies to determine the cause of death but, in Yoo Byung-eun’s case, there was simply too much tissue damage so it was difficult to find leads that can determine the cause of death,” he said.

The autopsy found no evidence of trauma from a weapon or strangulation, although there was heavy decomposition damage to the tissues in the head and neck, Lee said yesterday.

The ferry disaster triggered national outrage, especially when video footage emerged of crew members abandoning ship while the children stayed in their cabins as instructed.

The Sewol’s 15 surviving crew members, including the captain, are on trial on charges ranging from negligence to homicide.

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