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| Yoo Byung-eun's eldest daughter, Seom-na, also known as Ennette Yoo, has been arrested in Paris, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday. The government has asked French authorities to extradite her./Yonhap |
Manhunt for other clan members intensifying
By Lee Hyo-sik
Yoo Byung-eun's eldest daughter, Seom-na, also known as Ennette Yoo, has been arrested in Paris, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday.
The ministry said it has asked French authorities to extradite her.
The arrest came days after the 48-year-old daughter and Yoo's second son Keith Yoo, 42, were put on Interpol's wanted list.
Yoo and his four children have been hiding here and abroad to avoid investigations into corruption allegations against them.
Ministry officials said the French authorities will decide whether or not to send Seom-na to Korea after holding hearings required for extradition.
She is the first member of Yoo's family to be arrested regarding the ferry disaster.
Seom-na headed Moreal Design, a Seoul-based design agency that earned most of its revenues by working for affiliates owned by the Yoo family.
She is suspected of having embezzled some 8 billion won while engaging in transactions with Yoo's firms, including Dapanda.
The prosecution issued summons for the family members last month, but they were all snubbed.
Yoo and his three other children are still at large. The prosecution recently found that the second son, Keith Yoo, made a failed attempt to fly to France from the United States.
Prosecutors have arrested Yoo's close aides.
Lee Jae-oak, chairman of Hemato Centric Foundation, Monday night, was arrested Monday on charges of providing aid to the fugitive.
Lee is also suspected of embezzling company funds for the former Semo Group chairman. Hemato Centric Foundation is a company that exhibited Yoo's photos, and marketed them at home and abroad.
Investigators are quizzing Lee about the whereabouts of Yoo and his eldest son.
In the meantime, prosecutors sought a warrant from the court Monday night to detain four followers of the religious group. They were arrested Sunday for allegedly giving Yoo mineral water and dried fruit, and letting him use their mobile phones. A warrant will also be sought for a woman in her 30s for allegedly fleeing with Yoo.
The prosecution said Yoo and his son likely still remain in South Jeolla Province because Yoo and the Salvation Sect own a number of properties in remote areas there. Investigators have raided several properties in the province since it was confirmed Sunday that Yoo had stayed in a remote building in the city of Suncheon.
The prosecution said there are many hideouts that Yoo can stay in South Jeolla Province, adding that investigators are combing through ports in the province to prevent Yoo and his son from fleeing the country onboard a ship.
Meanwhile, the religious cult led by Yoo is embroiled in an internal feud over how the group should deal with the prosecution's investigation of its fugitive leader.
Moderates are insisting that the Salvation Sect should cooperate with investigators, while hardliners are threatening to take radical measures to derail the ongoing investigation and protect the nation's most-wanted man.
According to the prosecution and the Salvation Sect Tuesday, Kim Seong-il, the chairman of the cult, recently resigned from his post.
Lee Tae-jong, a spokesperson for the Salvation Sect, said that the religious group accepted the resignation from Kim, who is regarded as a moderate. He had offered to resign by taking responsibility for the group's deepening internal strife.
Kim and other moderate members said that the Salvation Sect should actively cooperate with law enforcement authorities to clear all the suspicions currently surrounding the group.
However, the hardliners, who staged a rally Sunday in front of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office following the arrest of group members, have insisted on resisting the prosecution in order to save Yoo.
Kim offered to step down from the post after failing to persuade the hardliners, according to the spokesman.
On May 21 when the prosecution raided Geumsuwon, a stronghold of the Salvation Sect, the group initially agreed to open the compound at 8 a.m. But investigators were only able to enter the site at around noon after hardliners protested the decision engineered by Kim and other moderate members.
With the radicals gaining increasing support, the religious group said its 100,000 followers will protect Yoo. ''We hope Yoo remains free. A hundred thousand followers will protect Yoo,'' said spokesman Lee.
The prosecution Sunday increased its initial reward money of 50 million won tenfold to 500 million won ($488,000) for anyone who can provide tips leading to Yoo's arrest. Those who help apprehend his eldest son Dae-gyun will receive 100 million won, up from the previous 30 million won.
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