South Korea tycoon linked to ferry disaster fails in asylum bid

Yoo Byung-un, 73, is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion in connection with the sinking of the Sewol which killed more than 300 passengers, most of them students on a school trip.

SEOUL // A South Korean businessman and Christian sect leader, wanted on charges tied to a ferry disaster in which more than 300 passengers drowned, sought asylum at a Seoul embassy but was rejected, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Yoo Byung-un, 73, is wanted on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion. He controls a web of business interests centred on an investment firm, which is controlled by his sons and owns the operator of the Sewol, which sank on April 16.

“By international law, Yoo Byung-un is not a refugee but is a fugitive with an arrest warrant outstanding, so anyone who helps him flee will be deemed to be aiding his escape and will be firmly punished,” a prosecutor said.

The Sewol, overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn, capsized and sank on a routine journey from Incheon on the mainland to the vacation island of Jeju.

Most of the 476 passengers were children and teachers from the same school on the outskirts of Seoul. Divers are searching for 16 missing bodies.

The captain and surviving crew members were caught on video escaping the sinking ship while the children, wearing life jackets, stayed put in their cabins, as they had been told, awaiting further orders.

All 15 surviving crew members of the Sewol have been charged. The captain and three senior crew members face homicide charges. Nine crew were indicted for negligence and two on the lesser charge of abandoning the vessel.

* Reuters