Followers sit before police outside the
compound of Yoo Byung-Eun, a leading member of the Evangelical Baptist Church
of Korea, in Anseong, 80 km (50 miles) south of Seoul on June 11, 2014.
Thousands of South Korean police forced their way into the compound of a
splinter religious group in their search for a missing businessman wanted in
connection with April's ferry disaster.
The French government has acknowledged the
seriousness of the Sewol ferry disaster by banning fugitive Yoo Byung-eun, who
is better known as Ahae in Europe, from holding a scheduled photo exhibition in
the country.
Following
his previous event in Paris in 2013, Yoo, the owner of the Sewol, was preparing
for a solo show in Compiegne, northern France, before the April 16 ferry
sinking.
While
the exhibition is projected to be postponed indefinitely amid investigators' ongoing
manhunt in South Korea, the foreign affairs minister of France has called on
the organising committee for the exhibition to withdraw the event.
On its
homepage over the weekend, the committee delivered the French foreign
minister's stance that "it would hurt victims' families and Koreans if
(the committee) showcases his photo works." The event was slated for early
July.
Reportedly
via his PR firm Ahae Press France in Paris, the 73-year-old Yoo had promoted
and marketed himself as a photographer who goes by the name Ahae.
Yoo was
unknown as a photographer before 2011. His project, "Through My
Window," began in 2009 and continued for four years, during which time Yoo
allegedly took more than 2.5 million photographs, all through one window at a
studio in Geumsuwon, the compound of the religious group Salvation Sect, which
is led by him.
While
the prosecution has yet to arrest the business irregularity-ridden Yoo, a Seoul
court ordered the provisional seizure of assets owned by those being held
responsible for the ferry sinking in order to cover the huge cost of handling
the disaster and compensating victims and their families.
The
Seoul Central District Court, which accepted the government's petition, has
ordered the sequestration of assets owned by Yoo; four officials of Chonghaejin
Marine Co., the operator of Sewol; and eight crew members aboard the ill-fated
vessel.
The
government is expected to secure up to 403 billion won ($395 million) if it
wins court battles against them.
The
prosecution, which has failed to determine the whereabouts of Yoo and his
oldest son, Dae-kyun, both of whom have been on the nation's most wanted list,
has only captured Yoo's wife, brothers and in-laws.
Yoo's
oldest daughter, Seom-na, has been detained in Paris since late May.
Korean
prosecutors are striving to attain endorsement from French judges and the
justice minister to extradite her to her homeland.
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