Lawmakers have agreed to hold a through investigation into last month’s Sewol-ho ferry disaster.
The 90-day probe will begin on Monday.
Meanwhile Authorities have so far been unable to track down Yoo Byung-eun, the practical owner of the sunken ferry, who remains on the run.
But prosecutors have tracked down his assets, which total well over two-hundred million dollars,… and have been granted approval to freeze them.
For the latest on the investigation, here’s our Ji Myung-gil.
Korean prosecutors have been given approval to freeze more than 200 million U.S. dollars worth of assets held by the owner family of the sunken Sewol-ho ferry.
Yoo Byung-eun, the head of Chonghaejin Marine Company which operated the ill-fated ferry,… and his family are suspected of having accumulated at least 234 million dollars worth of earnings through various crimes… both at home and abroad.
A district court in Incheon on Thursday granted a request by the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office to freeze the assets of Yoo and his three children… to prevent them from stashing away cash or real estate holdings before trials.
Yoo and his three children… Seom-na , Dae-kyun and Hyuk-ki are wanted on a string of corruption charges and irregularities that are believed to have contributed to the sinking of the ferry.
It is all part of an effort to hold the fugutive family criminally liable for the deadly April 16th disaster.
Meanwhile, a French court has rejected a request by Yoo Byun-eun’s eldest daughter, Seom-na to be released on bail.
The process for having her extradited to Korea began Wednesday, but could take up to a year.
Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.
