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FRANCE - SOUTH KOREA

France frees South Korean magnate's daughter linked to ferry disaster

A French court freed Yoo Som-Na, daughter of South Korean shipping magnate Yoo Byung-eun on Tuesday. The South Korean tycoon is head of the family that owns the Chonghaejin Marine Co and controls the company through his network of daughters.

South Korean ferry Ohamana owned by Chonghaejin Marine Co is seen at Incheon Port Passenger Terminal in Incheon April 22, 2014.
South Korean ferry Ohamana owned by Chonghaejin Marine Co is seen at Incheon Port Passenger Terminal in Incheon April 22, 2014. Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji
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Yoo Byung-eun is blamed for a ferry disaster killing more than 300 people, Yoo Som-Na's lawyers told AFP after Seoul requested her extradition.

She is wanted by South Korean authorities in the investigation of the tragedy.

France has detained her for over one year.

"Taking into account the political context; the threats to the presumption of innocence ... [the court] decided to release" Yoo while waiting for further information, said her lawyers, Olinka Malaterre, Hervé Temime and Rachel Lindon, in a joint statement, "It is a relief after 13 months of unjustified detention."

"After the Court of Appeals today, the Appeal Court of Versailles considered the South Korean extradition demand was in its state unacceptable."

In April the Court of Appeals, the highest court in the French justice system, overturned an extradition decision made by the Appeal Court of Paris three months earlier.

Her father, Yoo Byung-eun, was found dead on 12 June 2014 in South Korea after weeks spent searching for him.

He was a target of a manhunt after he refused to respond to an official summons following the ferry disaster.

A post-mortem failed to determine the cause of death.

South Korean investigators considered the sinking of the ferry, Sewol, more than a simple accident caused by human error and believed the lack of transparency by Chonghaejin Marine Co and its subsidiaries, as well as the greed of its directors led to deficiencies in security. 

The investigators are also interested in a number of individuals within the entourage of the tycoon, whose daughter directs a design company.

South Korean justice authorities questioned services that this company furnished to some other companies of her father's conglomerate.

According to them, these services constitute a way to cover embezzlement.

Seoul wants to try Yoo Som-Na for committing five suspected misappropriation of funds between 2004 and 2013, totalling around six million euros.

These charges are heatedly contested by Yoo.

In November 2013 South Korean authorities condemned the captain of the Sewol to 36 years in prison for gross negligence and dereliction of duty.

Three other senior crew members were sentenced to jail terms between 15 and 30 years. 

The director general of Chonghaejin Marine Co was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Yoo's brother, Yoo Dae-Kyun, was found guilty in November in South Korea for siphoning off 6.3 million euros from the company and sentenced to three years in prison.

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