SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors said yesterday the fugitive head of the family that owns the vessel had indirectly approached a foreign embassy in Seoul over asylum, but was rejected.
Briefing domestic reporters, prosecutors said an anonymous person had contacted the unidentified embassy last week on behalf of Yoo Byung-Eun, 72.
“The embassy rejected the request for asylum as (Yoo) is a criminal suspect,” the Yonhap news agency quoted prosecutor Kim Hoe-Jong as saying.
It was not immediately clear on what basis the request for asylum had been made.
Yoo is the patriarch of the family behind Chonghaejin Marine Co -- the owner and operator of the 6,825-tonne Sewol which capsized and sank on April 16 with the loss of around 300 lives -- most of them schoolchildren.
Yoo has been the target of a nationwide manhunt since he refused to respond to an official summons last month, and the authorities have offered a half-million dollar reward for information leading to his arrest.
Japan suspends aid to Vietnam
TOKYO: Japan has temporarily suspended official development aid to Vietnam over a bribery case, officials said yesterday, dealing a possible blow to Tokyo’s efforts to shore up its relationship with Hanoi.
Fresh yen-loans and funding for an ongoing urban railway project have been halted after six Vietnamese railway officials were detained over allegations of corrupt payments, the foreign ministry said.
The scandal emerged in March when Japanese media reported that the national tax agency had flagged up $100,000 worth of payments that could not be properly accounted for.
Japan Transportation Consultants Inc (JTC) which is involved in several official development aid programmes, is suspected of having paid the money to officials in Vietnam and Uzbekistan and Indonesia, the reports said.
Reporters listen to Abbott’s call
JAKARTA: Indonesia admitted yesterday that reporters had been allowed to listen in on a conversation between its president and Australia’s prime minister aimed at improving relations, but insisted it had been a mistake.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Indonesia’s Batam island today as he tries to restore ties that have been hurt by spying allegations and turn backs of boat people headed for Australia.
But it has now emerged that Jakarta allowed Indonesian journalists to listen in on the call Abbott made to Yudhoyono last month to arrange this week’s talks.
Agencies
