Author: GIKorea

The second son of Yoo Byung-eun, the owner of the company that ran the Chewol ferry that sunk 2014, has been captured by U.S. Marshals for extradition to South Korea. The law has finally caught up to him as well:

One of South Korea’s most notorious fugitives was arrested in the United States this week on​ embezzlement charges ​at home stemming from the 2014 sinking of a ferry that killed more than 300 people, many of them high school students.

Yoo Hyuk-kee, 48, was arrested Wednesday without incident at his home in Westchester County, New York, in response to an extradition request that South Korea submitted to the U.S., a Justice Department spokeswoman said.

Yoo’s arrest ends ​a prolonged mystery over the whereabouts of the man South Korean investigators consider to be a central figure in the scandal surrounding the ferry’s sinking, which traumatized the nation. Prosecutors have said that rampant embezzlement by the Yoo family helped create unsafe conditions and practices on the Sewol ferry.

Yoo, also​ known by his English name, Keith Yoo, is a son of Yoo Byung-eun, whose family controlled the Chonghaejin Marine Company, the operator of the Sewol. The overloaded ferry capsized off the southwestern tip of South Korea in April 2014​ in the country’s worst disaster in decades.

New York Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but Yoo’s father committed suicide shortly after the sinking and his oldest brother has already completed two years in jail for fraud. If all of Yoo’s shady dealings are true, hopefully he will be spending a long time in jail as well.

It looks like USFJ is about to take the actions USFK took early on in the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, by using UCMJ and other punitive actions to stop military personnel from breaking public health policies:

 Coronavirus rule breakers will face “quick and appropriate action,” the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan said in a video message Thursday, after people from the garrison were seen partying in off-limits parts of Tokyo.

“It seems like a few members of our team are starting to lose focus,” Col. Thomas Matelski, who oversees Camp Zama and Sagami General Depot in Kanagawa prefecture, said in his message on the garrison’s Facebook page.

U.S. Army Japan, which has been in an elevated health protection status since late February, increased its coronavirus risk level to “substantial” Thursday after discovering three new cases in its community. The Army reported five other infections earlier in the week. (……)

“Recently we have seen situations with our youth and soldiers in off-limits party areas in Tokyo,” Matelski said. “Some seem to think that rules are there to be broken. I can assure you that that is not the case.” (…….)

Leadership will take quick appropriate action when situations like this occur, Matelski said in his video.

Penalties can range from an immediate 14-day restriction of movement to action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, early return to the U.S. of dependents or being banned from military facilities in Japan, he said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but it seems like this is going to be hard to police. The major entertainment districts of  Roppongi, Shinjuku and Shibuya are huge areas of Tokyo. Is USFJ going to send in patrols to question everyone that looks like they may be in the military? Personnel just need to do the right thing and comply with the restrictions that USFJ has put in place to minimize coronavirus infections on post.

It looks like the leader of the Shincheonji Church will be the fall guy for his church spreading coronavirus in Daegu:

The leader of a minor religious sect at the center of the early coronavirus outbreak in South Korea was arrested early Saturday for allegedly obstructing the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.

A local court in Suwon, south of Seoul, issued an arrest warrant for Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. 

Lee, 89, is suspected of submitting false documents to health authorities on the number of participants at the sect’s gatherings and where the gatherings took place in February, when the fringe religious sect became a hot spot of the virus spread in the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

He is also accused of embezzling 5.6 billion won (US$4.68 million) from church funds and holding unauthorized religious events from 2015-19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

The faces in the Unification Ministry may change but the goal remains the same, find a way to avoid sanctions to send bulk cash transfers to North Korea:

“I’ll actively look for ways to restart the Mount Kumgang tour project,” he said while visiting Jejin Station in Goseong, northeast of Seoul, near the Demilitarized Zone that separates two Koreas. “The resumption of the tour program will send a message of peace on the Korean Peninsula and revive the economy of border regions.”

The minister also said he will go ahead with plans to reconnect the rail network to North Korea in a bid to create a new economic order on the Korean Peninsula.

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Lee said he would look for a “creative solution” to restart the tour program to North Korea’s scenic mountains in the form of individual tours as a way to improve inter-Korean relations without violating international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang.

Started in 2003, the project was suspended after a South Korean tourist was shot dead near the mountain resort in 2008. The program’s formal resumption requires a sanctions waiver, as it involves bulk cash transfer to the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Jeju used to be the go-to spot for Korean honeymooners before the rise of the ROK economy allowed couples to more easily travel abroad. However, COVID restrictions is once again bringing honeymooners back to Jeju:

“Jeju was my last option for our honeymoon because I thought I could go there whenever I wanted,” he said. “But as a plan B, Jeju looked better than other places for good restaurants and attractions.”

The Gohs are not the only newlyweds to celebrate their marriage on the subtropical island amid the coronavirus pandemic.

To meet rising demand from such honeymooners, who replace their overseas trips with domestic ones, hotel operators in Jeju have come up with honeymoon packages in the spring-summer season.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.