Yoo Dae-gyun, center, the eldest son of Yoo Byung-eun, the deceased owner of the sunken ferry Sewol, is surrounded by reporters after arriving at Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, Friday. He was arrested by police in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. / Yonhap



Yoo's cause of death remains undetermined

By Kang Hyun-kyung, Jung Min-ho

Police arrested the eldest son of Yoo Byung-eun, the deceased de facto owner of the sunken ferry Sewol, and Park Soo-kyung, who helped him hide, in a room at an officetel in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Friday.

Prosecutors are now questioning Dae-gyun, who is accused of professional negligence, and Park, a certified taekwondo judge, after they were sent immediately to the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office.

Police raided their hideout after being informed of it while searching for another Salvation Sect member surnamed Ha who also helped Dae-gyun hide.

Ha's sister is the owner of the room but she hadn't use it since early May. Police became suspicious of the place after discovering water and electricity bills have been issued since then.

Yoo and Park didn't allow police into the room for an hour. They allowed officers to enter after being told the door would be broken down if they continued to resist.

Police said they found 15 million won ($15,000) in cash and a computer. The two had not used cell phones as they feared they would be traced.





Seo Joong-seok, director of the National Forensic Service, explains about the death of Yoo Byung-eun with an X-ray his upper body in a press briefing at the agency's office in Sinwol-dong, western Seoul, Friday. The pictures below show Yoo's teeth and left hand, with part of his index finger cut off. Korea Times photos by Shim Hyun-chul, Kim Joo-sung



The arrest of Dae-gyun came hours after the state forensic lab failed to determine the cause of death for his father because his body was "too badly decomposed."

"We've confirmed that the body recently found in Suncheon was that of Yoo, but it was impossible to find the cause of death due to the advanced state of decomposition," National Forensic Service (NFS) director Seo Joong-seok said Friday.

The statement suggests that Yoo's death will probably remain a mystery, and that conspiracy theories are likely to grow.

The NFS reconfirmed that DNA and fingerprints were from Yoo and that the teeth matched records obtained from his dentist.

Prosecutors said they will concentrate on finding Yoo's chauffeur Yang Hoi-jeong to clear up lingering allegations surrounding the death.

They believe Yang helped Yoo to hide and that he was with him at the vacation home in Suncheon until prosecutors raided it.

"Yoo's death will be heartbreaking for his family and aides. If they turn themselves in by the end of this month, we can have them undergo questioning without being detained," a prosecutor told reporters.

The corpse was found near the vacation home, on June 12.

Yoo's physical traits, including the tip of the amputated left index finger and distorted left ring finger, were confirmed.

But the NFS cannot say if Yoo was murdered because of the state of decay, although his bones were not broken.

"Because his neck was damaged, we could not determine whether he was strangled," said senior NFS official Lee Han-young. "There was too little evidence left on the body. "We tried everything we could but we have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to know how he died."

The NFS said no poison was found in any material police collected at the scene, including two pieces of beef jerky and bottles of makgeolli, soju and shark liver oil made by a Yoo company.

Some experts have questioned the quick decomposition of the body, saying it would be impossible for a body to reach "an almost skeletal" state in just 18 days.

The NFS refuted this claim.

"We all agreed that it is possible for a body to decay very quickly under certain conditions," said Lee. "In one foreign case, a body became a skeleton only 10 days after death," he added.

"In our own animal tests, we found it is possible for a body to decay completely within five to six days," he said.

Scientists believe the humid weather as well as insects played a big role in accelerating the decomposition, which was why his head was separated from his body.

"I agree that there is little evidence left on the body, so the cause of death will likely remain a mystery," said Kang Shin-mong from the Catholic University. "But we also have circumstantial evidence. Based on all the information revealed so far, I believe the most likely case is that Yoo died of hypothermia."