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Police officers and medical staff move the body of Yoo Byung-eun, the de facto owner of the sunken ferry Sewol, into an ambulance at a funeral hall in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, Tuesday. Yoo's body was moved to a forensic sciences center in Seoul for an investigation into how he died. / Yonhap |
DNA, fingerprints match those of Yoo; Prosecution will step up Sewol probeBy Jung Min-ho
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The late Yoo Byung-eun |
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Police said Tuesday that they had found the body of Yoo Byung-eun, the owner of the sunken ferry Sewol who had been on the run amid an intensifying investigation into what caused the ship tragedy.
The corpse was initially found on June 12 in a field near Yoo's vacation home in the southwestern city of Suncheon, but police initially failed to realize that it was Yoo because it was "too badly decomposed," a spokesman said.
DNA samples taken from the corpse exactly matched those of Yoo, and a print taken from his right index finger was also confirmed, they said.
It is still unclear how, and exactly when, he died.
"He might have committed suicide or have been murdered. He could have died while sleeping after drinking too much alcohol," Woo Hyung-ho, chief of Sucheon Police Station, told reporters. "We are looking into the exact cause of his death."
Police said that so far there is "no evidence found to believe he was murdered. " The National Forensic Service (NFS) is looking into whether he was poisoned.
"We believe that forensic analysis and an autopsy by the NFS will reveal more details including the cause of death," Woo said.
Police said the "seriously decomposed body" was clad in a "Loro Piana" winter jumper and a hat. Empty bottles of makgeolli, soju, a rectangle-shaped magnifying glass along with an empty bottle of shark liver oil made by one of his companies were also found at the scene.
Yoo, 72, became a fugitive immediately after the vessel sank on April 16 off Jindo Island, which claimed 294 lives, mostly high school students, and left 10 people still missing.
The prosecution has vowed to step up its investigation into the ferry disaster in order to get to the bottom of the case and confiscate wealth from the Yoo family in order to secure compensation funds for the victims of the shipwreck.
Prosecutors suspect that corruption by Yoo and his family resulted in lax observance of safety standards, including overloading cargo, that eventually brought about one of the worst maritime disasters in the nation's history.
A massive manhunt ensued. And the prosecution filed charges of embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion against him as the probe proceeded.
Despite the information gathered by police, many questions still remain.
According to members of the Evangelical Baptist Church, a religious cult Yoo and his father-in-law Kwon Sin-chan founded in 1962, Yoo was "certainly alive" on May 25, when some of them saw him.
Also, experts say it is impossible for the body to decay that quickly to become "almost like a skeleton."
In fact, some officers, who participated in the investigation, raised the possibility that the body could not be Yoo.
"I am 110 percent certain that the decomposed body is not Yoo after decades of experience in the field," said one police officer, who refused to be named.
The church members also raised questions over the bottles of alcohol beverages found next to him.
"Yoo never drank alcohol," Lee Tae-jong, spokesman of the group, said. "We believe the body is not Yoo after hearing about the investigation."
Experts believe "it will be difficult" to find the cause of the death through an autopsy.
"Unless he was poisoned, it will still be difficult to figure out when and how he died," said Lee Jung-bin, Seoul National University emeritus professor of forensic medicine. "It would be wrong to make a judgment simply based on how decayed the body is, which was found in summer."
In June, some 6,000 police officers stormed a church complex in Anseong, south of Seoul. But Yoo managed to escape thanks to help from his followers. Four key members of the church were detained on charges of assisting him.
Prosecutors said Monday that 331 people are being investigated for possible involvement in the sinking of the Sewol, and that 139 people — including coast guard officers — have been detained for trial.
A U.S. court ruled Wednesday that North Korea and Iran are liable for damages for providing material support for a series of rocket and missile attacks on Israel by the militant group Hezbollah in 2006.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia delivered the verdict in a case filed in 2010 by a group of family members and surviving victims of the rocket attacks that happened from July 12 to Aug. 14, 2006.
"North Korea and Iran are liable for damages because they provided material support and assistance to terrorists who fired the rockets at Israel that caused plaintiffs' injuries," the judge said. "Accordingly, plaintiffs' motion for default judgment is hereby granted with respect to North Korea and Iran for purposes of liability."
A "special master" will be named to take care of the issue of individual damages, he said.
Even if damages are awarded, however, there is no chance that North Korea will agree to pay.
North Korea provided Hezbollah with a wide variety of material support and resources, including professional military and intelligence training and assistance in building a massive network of underground military installations, tunnels, bunkers, depots and storage facilities in southern Lebanon, the judge said.
"North Korea worked in concert with Iran and the Syria to provide rocket and missile components to Hezbollah. North Korea sent these rocket and missile components to Iran where they were assembled and shipped to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria," Lamberth said.
"These rocket and missile components were intended by North Korea and Hezbollah to be used and were in fact used by Hezbollah to carry out rocket and missile attacks against Israeli civilian targets," he said, adding that the militant group fired thousands of rockets and missiles at civilians in northern Israel.
In particular, the North provided Hezbollah with critical assistance in building an extensive tunnel network near Israel, and the "configuration and parameters of the tunnel system closely resemble" the layout of similar systems in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, the judge said.
Iran assisted Hezbollah in the same respects North Korea did, most generally by providing the funds, he said.
The judge said that the North is hostile to the U.S. and has attempted to undermine the power and influence of the U.S. and its allies. In order to accomplish the goal, the North has previously supported "communist and other anti-Western terrorist organizations" that are not only opposed to the U.S. , but also to Israel, he said.
"Consequently, North Korea has directly supported terrorist organizations that have carried out attacks in Israel," the judge said. Earning hard currency could be another primary motivation for the destitute North, he said, citing experts. (Yonhap)