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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

South Korean linked to ferry disaster extradited, arrested

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Seoul: The daughter of the South Korean tycoon blamed for the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster arrived in Seoul on Wednesday to face questioning over her own role in the affair, after being extradited from France.


Yoo Som-Na was detained in Paris in May 2014 and has been wanted in South Korea on suspicion of embezzling millions of dollars from subsidiaries of her family’s company, Chonghaejin Marine Co.


South Korean authorities believe the alleged embezzlement contributed to safety defects which led to the April 2014 sinking that claimed the lives of 304 people, most of them high school children.


Yoo denied the “outrageous” allegations after arriving at the Incheon Prosecutors’ Office for questioning.


“I’ve never embezzled anything from the company,” she told reporters, adding that the only money she had ever taken was “the pay I received for my service”.


Yoo, her wrists handcuffed in front of her and covered with a black cloth for privacy, wept when asked about the disaster.


“I cannot help crying whenever I think about the victims... no words can possibly console the relatives,” she said.


Yoo, 51, was detained for 13 months in France but released in the middle of 2015. — AFP


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