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| 2023-08-04 14:28:43
Sewol ferry-extradition
2nd son of Sewol ferry operator's late owner extradited from U.S.
INCHEON, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- The second son of Yoo Byung-eun, the late chairman of Semo Group, linked to the deadly Sewol ferry sinking in 2014, was extradited to South Korea from the United States on Friday, sources said.
An escort team from the Incheon District Prosecutors Office took custody of Yoo Hyuk-kee, 50, from U.S. investigation authorities the previous day inside a Korean Air plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and formally arrested him, according to the legal sources.
The airplane arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at 7:20 a.m. Friday following a two-hour delay.
Yoo is suspected of embezzling or inflicting losses that amounted to about 55.9 billion won (US$42.8 million) during his alleged involvement in the management of Semo Group.
The group owned the operator of the Sewol ferry that sank off the southwestern island of Jin on April 16, 2014, claiming 304 lives, mostly high school students on a school trip to Jeju Island, in one of the country's worst maritime disasters.
Yoo, a U.S. resident, was arrested in New York in July 2020 after refusing to comply with the South Korean prosecution's summons three times. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Yoo's request to block his extradition in January this year, and the U.S. government then approved his extradition at the request of the justice ministry here.
A prosecution escort vehicle took Yoo directly to the Incheon District Prosecutors Office upon his arrival, and he is expected to undergo questioning later in the day.
Out of the four people who fled abroad in connection with the Sewol ferry case, Yoo is the last to be repatriated.
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