The second son of Yoo Byung-eun, the late chairman of Semo Group linked to a deadly 2014 ferry sinking, will be extradited to South Korea from the United States later this week, the Ministry of Justice said Thursday.
Yoo Hyuk-kee, 50, is scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at 5:20 a.m. Friday as South Korea is to take over his custody from the U.S. authorities in accordance with the criminal extradition procedure, the ministry said.
Upon arrival, Yoo is expected to be taken to the Incheon District Prosecutors Office to face investigations about his embezzlement and breach of trust charges incurred during his alleged involvement in the management of Semo Group.
The group owned the operator of the Sewol ferry that sank off the southwestern island of Jindo on April 16, 2014, claiming 304 lives, mostly high school students on a school trip to Jeju Island, in one of the country's worst maritime disasters.
Yoo, a U.S. resident, was arrested in New York in July 2020 after refusing to comply with the South Korean prosecution's summons three times. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Yoo's request to block his extradition in January this year, and the U.S. government has finally approved his extradition at the request of the justice ministry here.
Yoo will be the last criminal suspect to be repatriated to South Korea among four people who fled abroad in connection with the Sewol ferry case.
Source: Yonhap News Agency