ed Strict law enforcement

The prosecution has hit a snag in its investigation into the Yoo family over the tragic sinking of the ferry Sewol because children of Yoo Byung-eun, the alleged de facto owner of the ferry operator, are refusing to comply with summonses issued to them.

On Tuesday, prosecutors and police officers forced open a locked door of the house of Yoo Dae-gyun, the eldest son, in southern Seoul, after waiting for hours in front of the home, but they didn’t find him. The younger Lee didn’t appear at the prosecution office for questioning a day earlier.

Yoo’s second son and two daughters, who are reportedly in the United States, have also ignored summonses from the prosecution.

The prosecution on Tuesday summoned the elder Yoo for questioning Friday, and said it would take him into custody soon if he refuses to comply.

The Yoo family’s disobedience runs counter to their stated position to actively cooperate with the investigation, which was made right after the ferry sank. It’s also outrageous to see dozens of believers of the Evangelical Baptist Church, founded and led by the elder Yoo, gather to block investigators from entering Geumsuwon, the church’s headquarters in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Monday.

Given the gravity of the Sewol tragedy, the family should have turned themselves in for questioning and begged for forgiveness on their knees. However, it appears that they cunningly intend to buy time to destroy evidence supporting their illegal acts.

But these dirty tricks will be useless because it has been learned that prosecutors have already secured enough evidence to hold them legally accountable.

To begin with, the elder Yoo has received a monthly salary of 15 million won from Chonghaejin Marine, the operator of the doomed ferry. Also, his two sons are major shareholders of I-One-I Holdings, the holding company of Chonghaejin Marine, raising speculation that the family members are not unrelated to the vessel’s sinking.

The prosecution also suspects the sons and their underlings of embezzling tens of billions of won in company funds. Furthermore, it’s possible to arrest them for accidental homicide if they are found to have been involved in extending the ship’s cabin areas and habitual overloading of the vessel.

Questioning and punishing the Yoo family is imperative in order to establish social justice. Even now, the family members should comply with the summons honorably and elaborate on what has been knowingly done.

The prosecution has yet to establish where they are, and it won’t be easy to bring some of the family, who are now abroad, back home. But the prosecution should do what it can to speed up its investigation of the family. That’s the least the government can do to atone for its outright incompetence.