(LEAD) Prosecutors launch investigation into arrested son of Sewol ferry owner

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INCHEON, July 26 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors began questioning the eldest son of the late owner of the ferry Sewol Saturday, a day after he was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement related to the ship's sinking that left more than 300 people killed or missing.

Yoo Dae-kyun, 44, the son of Yoo Byung-eun, had been at large since the ferry's sinking off South Korea's southwest coast on April 16. On Friday, he was arrested by police at a hideout in a town just outside Seoul together with Park Soo-kyung, a 34-year-old female bodyguard.

Prosecutors kicked off their investigation into the younger Yoo and Park to find out details about their escape.

Police and prosecutors had sought the senior Yoo -- a religious figure and ex-convict -- and his key family members over alleged corruption they believe contributed to the ferry's sinking.

The son told investigators that he fled on fears that he may suffer difficulties as his 73-year-old father had during a probe decades ago on Odaeyang, a religious cult, of which his father was a key member.

Because of his leadership role in Odaeyang, the senior Yoo made himself a suspect in the cult's 1987 mass suicide-murder. More than 30 people from the cult were found dead, bound and gagged in a factory outside of Seoul. Investigators, however, had found no direct evidence tying the event to the senior Yoo.

Prosecutors said the younger Yoo and his bodyguard were found to have holed up at a small Yongin flat to evade a massive police manhunt in the past three months.

Prosecutors said they planned to apply for court-issued arrest warrants for the two on Sunday.

The focus of the investigation, they said, was on whether the younger Yoo took part in the management of Cheonghaejin Marine, the company that operated the sunken ferry.

The deadly decomposed body of the senior Yoo was found in a remote mountainside in southern Seoul in mid-June. State forensic experts said last week that the body was identified as that of the senior Yoo through DNA testing.

Right after his arrest, the junior Yoo told police that he had not known the news of his father's death.

The state forensic agency said that it was impossible to determine the cause of death of the fugitive shipping tycoon as his body was badly decomposed.

Many of Yoo's other family members, including his wife and elder brother, have been arrested following the ferry disaster. The senior Yoo's daughter Som-na is fighting an extradition bid from Paris, and his second son, Hyuk-ki, is also wanted on corruption charges but is hiding abroad.
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