Actress and associate to Sewol owner admits charges

By Lee Kyung-min

Actress Chun Yang-ja

Actress Chun Yang-ja, who was a business associate of the late owner of the sunken ferry Sewol, Yoo Byung-eun, admitted breach of trust and embezzlement charges at a court hearing, the prosecution said Monday.

As a member of the Salvation Sect, a religious group led by Yoo, the 72-year-old actress headed a shopping subsidiary of Cheonghaejin Marine, the operator of the sunken ferry, as well as Geumsuwon, the sect’s stronghold in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province.

The trial of Chun opened Monday at Incheon District Court. Speaking to judges, Chun changed her previous testimony, and admitted to the breach of trust and embezzlement charges brought against her, according to the prosecution.

During questioning on May 11, she flatly denied the allegations.

She is accused of giving 350 million won ($337,000) to an agriculture interest group from September 2009 until July last year.

She is also accused of embezzling 89 million ($85,000) won and giving it to another subsidiary of Cheonhejin Marine, the Bank of the Idea.

Chun said, “I merely followed what my predecessors had been doing. I participated in the crime, but not actively nor willingly.”

In court, she testified on two counts: one on embezzlement charges, and the other on violating the construction law as CEO of Geumsuwon.

As for the second count, she said, “I knew I was registered as CEO, but I was not the actual person in charge.”

In 1991, Chun revealed that she had been a member of the Salvation Sect.

Her announcement came four years after the infamous “1987 Odaeyang Incident,” in which 32 believers of Salvation Sect were found burned to death in a factory cafeteria in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.