Yoo Byung-eun

On 2 June 2017 the appeal on the extradition order for Yoo Som-na was rejected by the highest administrative court in France, and on 7 June 2017 she was arrested by South-Korean officials at the Charles de Gaulle airport, aboard a plane from Korean Airlines bound for Korea.

An Ahae exhibition produced by Ahae Press titled Les échos du temps de près et de loin (Echos of Time: Far and Near) for the opening season of the new Philharmonie de Paris was scheduled for 5 May to 28 September 2015, and a concert sponsored by Ahae Press on 15 June 2015 in Philharmonie de Paris featuring Nyman's Symphony No. 6 "Ahae" and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 "Pastorale" was announced; both have been cancelled.

Yoo Byung-eun (Korean: 유병언; Hanja: 兪炳彥) was a South Korean businessman and inventor, who as a photographer was known under the art name Ahae. Yoo became the focus of Park Geun-hye’s administration shortly after the Sinking of MV Sewol in April 2014. Yoo and other Korean nationals were used in a nation-wide propaganda campaign designed to manage public opinion after the disaster. In official documents from the Blue House, the Defense Security Command (DSC) identified Yoo as a target to distract the public from its dissent over the Korean Coast Guard’s failure to rescue passengers from the ferry. Yoo, who retired from his board position at Chonghaejin in 1997, was targeted in official communications prior to the conclusion of any investigation to manage public outrage and maintain government stability. During the campaign to find and discredit Yoo, the government purposely fed several large media companies information designed to focus public interest onto the manhunt for Yoo instead of the cause of the ferry sinking. In addition, the DSC performed illegal wiretaps, which was somewhat similar to an earlier incident involving Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS illegal wiretapping scandal). After a nationwide manhunt that was broadly reported on, Yoo’s body was found in an orchard, the cause of death not known..mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}

Ahae, through his company Ahae Press, was a patron of the Forest Festival, a classical music festival in the forests of Compiègne, northern France. His photographs were to be projected during a gala concert at Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne on 4 July 2014. The sponsorship commitment was €10,000 (~US$13,640, ~₩13.9 million). Following the open letter on 12 June from Korean expatriates in France to, among others, Minister of Culture Aurélie Filippetti and the director of the Forest Festival, and subsequent talks between the festival and the Ministry of Culture, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on 30 June gave written notice to the festival suggesting the projection should be renounced "out of sensitivity and respect for the Korean people mourning [following the sinking of Sewol], in particular the families of the young victims, and in the interest of the Festival and of France"; the projection and the sponsorship was cancelled on 2 July.

The ferry Sewol capsized and sank on 16 April 2014. It was carrying 476 people, mostly secondary school students from Danwon High School who were travelling from Incheon towards Jeju. The sinking resulted in 304 deaths, and is the worst ferry disaster in South Korea since 14 December 1970, when the sinking of the ferry Namyoung cost 326 people out of 338 their lives. Sewol was operated by the company Chonghaejin Marine.

Michael Ham, managing director of Ahae Press and co-director of Evangelical Media Group, in a press release 25 April 2014 said: "Mr. Yoo does not have any involvement in the management or day-to-day operations of Chonghaejin Marine Co. ... I know that he has been spending every single day of the past four to five years focusing on his photography work." Yoo's lawyer stated that Yoo had not been involved in corporate management since Semo went bankrupt in 1997.

Contrary to the claims that Yoo Byung-eun was the owner and chairman of the Sewol ferry, it was later confirmed by the Press Arbitration Commission in Korea that he had retired from the executive board in 1997, had no ownership, and no involvement with the management of the ferry company. Initially, investigators presented evidence indicating Yoo as the de facto leader of the company. One piece of evidence was a detailed list of all the company's staff prepared on 15 April 2014, a day before the sinking of the MV Sewol, which named Yoo as chairman of Chonghaejin Marine with employee number A99001, or employee No. 1 at the company, which was established in 1999. They also discovered a pay stub that records a payment of ₩15 million (~US$14,700) monthly over more than a year. They have also obtained testimony from others that Yoo was directly involved in managing the ferry operator.

Yoo's eldest daughter, Yoo Som-na (유섬나; born 1966), was summoned for questioning multiple times by the prosecution, but evaded the office's investigation. She headed the interior design and consulting firm Moreal Design with offices on New York's Park Avenue and in Seoul, which has done design work for many of Semo's affiliates, Debauve & Gallais, Hemato-Centric Life Institute, and NaeClear, and has sponsored Yoo's photographic exhibitions. On 9 May 2014, police raided the firm's office in southern Seoul on suspicion it had been involved in forming the family's slush funds and managing them in overseas accounts. On 11 May, the authorities issued an arrest warrant for Som-na after she failed to appear for questioning. Som-na had been staying in France since February 2013 on a temporary residence visa. She is accused of embezzling ₩8 billion (US$7.8 million) from her affiliates including Dapanda since 2003, while working as the head of Moreal Design in Seoul.

In mid June 2014, Chonhaiji Co. Ltd., a ship block maker controlled by Yoo's sons, and the major shareholder of Chonghaejin Marine Company with 39.4%, lodged its application for receivership at the Changwon District Court. Chonhaiji had ₩34.8 billion (~US$34.19 million) in outstanding debt to main creditor Korea Development Bank.

In 2014, the PAC (Press Arbitration Commission) of Korea received a historic number of arbitration cases (19,048), about 7 to 8 times more than a typical year. Out of these cases, 16,117 claims were filed by the family of Yoo Byung-eun and the Evangelical Baptist Church following reports from the Sewol ferry disaster. Out of these filings, 96.19% (15,503 claims) were accepted by the 5 panel arbitration committee. Most correction claims involved press reports that mentioned the following: Yoo Byung-eun is the de facto owner of the ferry, Geumsuwon (church location) is Yoo Byung-Eun's property, Lee Jun-seok and crew of the Sewol ferry are members of the Evanglical Baptist Church, Evanglical Baptist Church is connected to Odaeyang. Many of these false reports occurred when the press redirected public sentiment towards President Park stemming from the ferry disaster over to Yoo Byung-Eun and the Salvation Group. This mitigated press coverage for investigation on the cause of the accident and disaster management.

South Korean authorities initially offered a ₩50 million (~US$48,800) reward for information leading to the arrest of Yoo. On 25 May 2014, the reward was raised tenfold to ₩500 million (~US$488,000).

In June 2014, South Korean police discovered Yoo's heavily decomposed body in a plum field in Suncheon, a city about 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of Seoul. Yoo was wearing an "expensive Italian jacket", and surrounding his body was "a copy of a book he had written, an empty bottle of a shark liver oil health tonic manufactured by a Yoo family company and several empty bottles of alcohol". Initially, the police believed that the body belonged to a homeless man, but further investigation in July 2014 based on analysis of DNA, dental, and fingerprint evidence confirmed that the body was Yoo's.

According to Chaebul.com, an online information provider on large businesses, Yoo and his family own 30 business operators, with 13 doing business abroad such as in the U.S., Hong Kong and France. Their combined assets amount to some ₩500 billion (~US$480 million). The collective assets of the 13 overseas operations surged to ₩166.5 billion (~US$158 million) at the end of 2013. In France in 2012, Yoo made headlines prior to his photo exhibition in the Tuileries Garden at The Louvre when he through his public relations company, Ahae Press, bought the abandoned village of Courbefy for €520,000 (US$663,000, ₩767.5 million). Yoo had seen it on CNN, and wanted to set up an "environmental, artistic and cultural" project in the village. Yoo has a wide range of other business interests according to official documents and information on company websites. He owns a plantation in the United States called 123Farm, one of the largest organic lavender farms in California started in 2001 at the site of the Highland Springs Resort, a 2,400 acres (970 ha; 3.8 sq mi) property consisting of a 56-room hotel, conference center, and restaurants. Yoo was chairman of the board of the company that bought the resort in May 1990 for US$6.75 million. I-One-I Holdings subsidiary Dapanda owns 9.9 percent of the Highland Springs Conference and Training Centre at the resort, according to regulatory filings.

For his second solo exhibition in France, Fenêtre sur l'extraordinaire (Window on the Extraordinary), Ahae rented the Orangerie Hall of the Palace of Versailles from 25 June to 9 September 2013. To mark the end of the exhibition, Michael Nyman was again commissioned, and wrote a 32-minute symphony in four movements for the occasion, Symphony No. 6 "AHAE", representing the four seasons in nature as depicted by Ahae. French composer Nicolas Bacri was commissioned to write a 29-minute symphonic piece, his opus 130, titled "Ahae's Day (Four Images for Orchestra)". The London Symphony Orchestra was hired to premiere both pieces at L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles in Paris on 8 September 2013. Both pieces were recorded for a planned future release. Ahae was the sole patron of the Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau (Water Theatre Grove) (fr) currently being recreated with sculptures by Jean-Michel Othoniel in the area of the Gardens of Versailles, donating €1.4 million (~US$1.9 million, ~₩1.9 billion). Catherine Pégard, head of the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles who administer the Palace of Versailles, disclosed that the exhibition was on a sponsorship basis, saying "The artist himself wanted to rent the Orangerie. But we never communicate the numbers." Spurred by investigative reporting initially published by Bernard Hasquenoph, French Le Monde and British The Times wrote that Ahae gave €5 million (~US$6.8 million, ~₩6.9 billion) to Versailles.

From June to August 2012, Through My Window (De ma fenêtre) was displayed in a 12,000 square feet (1,100 m), four-story bespoke exhibition pavilion erected in the Tuileries Garden, that is administratively attached to The Louvre, in Paris. English film composer Ilan Eshkeri was commissioned to write a twelve-part tone poem. Pre-recorded in Abbey Road Studios by the London Metropolitan Orchestra the 46 minutes composition played alongside the exhibition, and was later released on Blu-ray Disc. For the gala dinner in the exhibition pavilion on 25 June 2012 Keith H. Yoo had commissioned British composer Michael Nyman to write a 26 minutes long piano quintet in four movements titled Through the Only Window. The work was subsequently recorded by Nyman Quintet in the Abbey Road Studios, and released on Nyman's record label. Hervé Barbaret, deputy to former director of The Louvre Henri Loyrette, disclosed to L'Express in 2014 that "The Louvre did not pay a penny to organize this event. The artist paid the production entirely and paid a little more than €500,000 (~US$700.000, ~₩700 million) to exhibit himself in the Tuileries". Ahae further donated €1.1 million (~US$1.5 million, ~₩1.5 billion) to the Louvre.

French magazine A nous Paris in its 25 June 2012 edition asked Keith H. Yoo the question: "The exhibition is a significant cost. Do you have any sponsors?" To which Keith answered: "No. We are funding everything with the money from our different companies. We are not interested in outside pressure and want to enjoy total freedom."

Sewol was remodeled between October 2012 and February 2013 to increase the number of passenger cabins and add a fifth floor, mainly used as an exhibition hall for photographs by Yoo (Ahae). The employee of Chonghaejin who was in charge of the refitting testified that he carried out the expansion under the direction of Yoo.

Ahae (아해), which means "child" in old Korean language, was a nickname used in reference to Yoo in correspondence on an Evangelical Baptist Church website EBC World. Through his PR companies Ahae Press, Inc. in New York, Ahae Press France in Paris, and Ahae Press Ltd. UK in London, Yoo has exhibited and marketed himself as the photographer who goes by the name Ahae. Yoo was unknown as a photographer before 2011.

Yoo first exhibited Through My Window in the Vanderbilt Hall of Grand Central Terminal, New York City, in April 2011; co-produced by daughter Yoo Som-na's company Moreal Design, it was organized by Hemato-Centric Life Institute, and sponsored by Highland Springs Resort and Bear Family Green Club. His exhibition Through My Window: Vibrancy and Serenity was on display on the same location in October 2011. Yoo did not attend the exhibition that was unveiled by his second son, Yoo Hyuk-kee, known outside South Korea as Keith H. Yoo. Keith, as CEO of Ahae Press, curated his father's exhibitions.

On 23 April investigators of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office raided the head office of Chonghaejin Marine, and some 20 offices of its affiliates, as well as the office of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Yongsan, central Seoul. Prosecutors suspected that funds from members of the religious group had been used in business operations of Chonghaejin Marine and Yoo Byung-eun. The prosecution found more than 100 bogus companies, many of them set up and operated by followers of a Yoo's religious group, had paid Yoo and his two sons at least ₩100 billion (~US$97.1 million) for their "consulting services," and had purchased photos taken by Yoo. Yoo's religious group denied cross-border transactions with affiliates of the ferry operator. The Prosecution secured video footage of a lecture Yoo delivered to the sect's believers in April 2010, in which Yoo admitted to have registered properties under the names of other persons.

The project titled Through My Window began in early spring 2009 and continued for 4 years, during which time Yoo allegedly took about 2.7 million photographs, all through one window, which equates to a rate of roughly one photo every 60 seconds. The collection mainly consists of natural scenes shot through the window of Yoo's own studio. The location is the rural commune belonging to the Evangelical Baptist Church called "Geumsuwon" (금수원) east of Anseong south of Seoul, where Yoo lived.

As an inventor, Yoo holds multiple patents, one being for a colonic irrigation system, for which he received an International Federation of Inventors' Associations' prize at the 2006 Seoul International Invention Fair. The invention is marketed in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, South Korea, Philippines, and Malaysia by NaeClear, and is sold in South Korea by the company Dapanda. It "arose from the concept of Hemato-Centric Health, which revolves around the blood as being the center of life." supposedly a concept created by Yoo and his non-profit research organization Hemato-Centric Life Institute (New York) chaired by his younger son Keith H. Yoo (Yoo Hyuk-kee, 유혁기; born 1972); sponsored by NaeClear Co., Ltd. and daughter Yoo Som-na's company Moreal Design Inc., Yoo delivered keynote speeches at the 2010–13 Hemato-Centric Life Forum meetings in Seoul organized by Hemato-Centric Life Foundation.

According to the U.S.-based non-profit organization Evangelical Media Group created by Yoo in 2001, "he first began to live for the sake of the gospel in 1961," and that he "worked as an inventor and businessman to support the spreading of the gospel all over the world". Yoo was one of 11 students admitted to the Good News Mission Bible school established in Korea by American and English missionaries, but he was expelled. He founded what later became the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, also known as the Salvation Sect, in 1962 with his father-in-law, Pastor Kwon Shin-chan (권신찬; 1923–96). The church was held to be a cult by a conservative Christian denomination, the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches, in 1992.

Chonghaejin Marine Company Ltd. was set up two years later on 24 February 1999, a day before a court approved the restructuring of the bankrupt Semo, and became a key entity to consolidate Semo's shipping business, taking over ships and assets held by Semo Marine, and had its debts written off.

Semo Group filed for bankruptcy with more than ₩300 billion (~US$294 million) in debts amidst the 1997 Asian financial crisis, in the wake of a series of highly publicized scandals, citing business diversification as the cause of a cash shortage that had fuelled a rise in debts in its bankruptcy protection petition, and was liquidated.

By 1990, Semo Corp. had 1,800 employees, but the ferry businesses suffered maritime accidents. In 1990, 14 Semo workers were killed when their cruise ship on the Han River was hit by another ship. The company was cleared of any liability for the incident. Semo grew into the biggest ferry operator by 1994, operating 30 ships, and once had nearly 3,000 employees.

Yoo came to public attention in connection with the Odaeyang mass suicide in 1987. Police were investigating accusations against a 48-year-old woman, Park Soon-ja, saying that she had swindled ₩8.9 billion (~US$8.7 million) from about 220 people. Odeyang Trading Co. was a firm that established by Park who used to attend Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea and Jehovah's Witnesses in the past. Yoo has denied any link to the group. On 29 August 1987 thirty-two members of the sect who believed in doomsday, including Park Soon-ja and her three children, were found dead, bound and gagged. Police assumed the event was a murder–suicide pact, and the prosecution initially suspected that Yoo was linked to the case; but he was never charged, and the police closed the case as a mass suicide. After six people, including a former follower of Park named Kim Do-hyun, surrendered to authorities on 10 July 1991, the case was reopened and found money transactions between Odaeyang Trading Co. and a member of Evangelical Baptist Church. However, the money transactions revealed that they had nothing to do with Odaeyang Trading Co. case, and private loan of Odaeyang Trading Co. Those were normal payment remittances of goods between Park and the member of Evangelical Baptist Church before establishment of Odaeyang Trading Co. Yoo was arrested and, in 1992, convicted of "habitual fraud under the mask of religion" for his role in colluding with one of his employees to collect donations from church members in the amount of ₩1.2 billion (~US$1.15 million) and invest them in his businesses. He served a 4-year prison term. In November 2014, report says Incheon District Prosecutor's Office confirm in May there was no connection between Yoo and Odaeyang incident.

Yoo, while still serving as a pastor, got his start in business when acquiring the bankrupt textile company Samwoo Trading Co. (삼우무역) in 1976. He took over as CEO in 1978, and turned it into a toy manufacturing and export company. Yoo went into shipping when he founded Semo Corp. (주식회사 세모) in 1979, a holding company that came to span shipping, shipbuilding, domestic ferry businesses, electronics, real estate, cosmetics, paint, stuffed toys, pewter, and various other ventures. Semo started operating ferries on Seoul's Han River in 1986, two years before the city held the Summer Olympics.

Yoo was the head of the family who partially own Chonghaejin Marine, and is believed to have exercised influence through a web of company cross-shareholdings. His two sons, Yoo Dae-kyun (유대균; born c. 1970), and second son Yoo Hyuk-kee, are controlling the shipping firm through a majority stake in the investment vehicle I-One-I Holdings as well as 13 unlisted affiliates which through a tangled web of ownership structure own each other, a structure prosecutors describe as pyramid-like, and ultimately is controlled by individuals― Yoo's two sons and seven of his friends. Chung Sun-seop, editor of Chaebul.com, a website that analyses South Korea's chaebol business groups, said that "This kind of shadow management through his children or close aides is not uncommon among chaebol companies."

Yoo's eldest brother-in-law, Oh Gabriel (오갑렬; born c. 1955), married to Yoo's younger sister, Yoo Gyeong-hee (유경희; born c. 1958), was arrested with his wife on 19 June, allegedly for aiding Yoo's escape. The arrest came following testimony provided by two key adherents of the Evangelical Baptist Church that were arrested earlier in June, saying Oh drove Yoo out of the religious group's commune, Geumsuwon, on 23 April after police surrounded the compound. Oh, who served as the Korean ambassador to the Czech Republic from January 2010 through June 2013, reportedly played a significant role in garnering support for Yoo's photo exhibitions in France. Oh is currently under review by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs's disciplinary committee for allegations that he abused his authority to help Yoo hold a photo exhibition in France and other European countries. The Prosecution suspect that Oh contacted the French Embassy on behalf of Yoo. When questioned, Oh testified that Yoo's family and followers funded and gave him information about the authorities' movements. Oh and his wife were released on 26 June reportedly with the expressed willingness to actively cooperate with the investigation and mediate the surrender of Yoo, and because under Korean criminal law family members to a fugitive cannot be punished for hiding or aiding the suspect.

Yoo's younger brother, Yoo Byung-ho (유병호; born c. 1953), father-in-law of singer Park Jin-young, was arrested at his residence in Daegu on 22 June. The Court issued a custody warrant on 24 June. Byung-ho is suspected of embezzlement, totaling at least ₩1 billion (~US$1 million), from Chonghaejin Marine's sister firms, and to have borrowed ₩3 billion (~US$2.8 million) from one of the family affiliates, and allegedly made members of the religious group pay back ₩1.5 billion (~US$1.4 million) on his behalf while the affiliate suffered losses of ₩1.5 billion (~US$1.4 million).

Yoo's brother-in-law, Kwon Oh-kyun (권오균; born c. 1950), the younger brother to Yoo's wife, Kwon Yun-ja, was arrested at his home in southern Seoul on charges of negligence on 6 June. Kwon, a key leader of the Salvation Sect, is CEO of the construction firm Trigon Korea, a core affiliate of Chonghaejin Marine, and suspected of embezzling company funds to illicitly transfer to Yoo and Yoo's children. On 8 June, a court warrant was issued to detain Kwon, inhibiting he fled the country or destroyed evidence. Kwon became the first relative of Yoo to be indicted on 24 June. He is accused of funneling funds of nearly ₩29 billion (~US$28.4 million) into his business after taking out loans with assets of the Evangelical Baptist Church as collateral in 2010, according to prosecutors.

Shin Myung-hee (신명희; born c. 1950), a member of the Evangelical Baptist Church called "Mother Shin" by devotees of the sect, had been wanted by law enforcement authorities under suspicion of masterminding Yoo's escape, and on 13 June turned herself in to authorities in Suwon, Gyeonggi. Shin was detained and in July indicted on charges of playing a major role in helping Yoo evade capture.

On 25 June Lee Seok-hwan (이석환; born c. 1949), considered Yoo's "right-hand man," was arrested in a parking lot in Suwon, south of Seoul, after avoiding a manhunt for weeks. An influential member of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Lee is suspected of helping Yoo avoid arrest. A court-issued warrant on Lee was sought on 27 June.

Yoo's wife, Kwon Yun-ja (권윤자; born c. 1942), was put on the nation's most wanted list in June. She has been the CEO of a door-to-door sales company, Dalgubeol (달구벌), in the southern city of Daegu. Kwon was detained in an apartment in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province on 21 June and taken in for questioning on charges of embezzling funds from the Evangelical Baptist Church and her company, reportedly amounting to more than ₩1 billion (US$979,850) that had been handed over to her husband and her son to expand their business. To keep her in custody, the prosecution asked on 23 June the Incheon District Court to issue an arrest warrant, which was granted on 24 June. On 14 July prosecutors filed embezzlement charges against Kwon.

Yoo was known, due to his reclusiveness, as "the millionaire with no face." He married Kwon Yun-ja (Korean: 권윤자; RR: Gwon Yunja; born c. 1942), the daughter of Kwon Shin-chan, in 1966. He had four children with her: daughter Yoo Sum-na (Korean: 유섬나; RR: Yu Seomna; born 1966), also known as Ennette Yoo, daughter Yoo Sang-na (Korean: 유상나; RR: Yu Sang-na; born c. 1968), son Yoo Dae-kyun (Korean: 유대균; RR: Yu Dae-gyun; born c. 1970), and second son Yoo Hyuk-kee (Korean: 유혁기; RR: Yu hyuk-ki; born 1972), also known as Keith H. Yoo.

Yoo was born in Kyoto, Japan to Korean parents on 11 February 1941. Yoo's family returned to Korea following the liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and settled in Daegu, where Yoo graduated from Seonggwang High School.

Yoo's older brother, Yoo Byung-il (유병일; born c. 1939), was the first member of Yoo's family who, on 11 May, appeared for questioning. Byung-il was the managing director of the religious facility called Geumsuwon. Prosecutors said they believed that Byung-il had received consultation fees of ₩2.5 million (~US$2,400) from Chonghaejin Marine each month, and that they had testimonies that he had illegally intervened in the company's management. Byung-il was arrested one month later on 13 June, near Geumsuwon. The prosecution team requested and was granted a pretrial detention warrant for Byung-il on 16 June. On 2 July Byung-il was indicted on embezzlement charges suspected of having received a combined ₩13 million (~US$129,000) from Chonghaejin Marine as consulting fees between June 2010 and April 2014.