Businessman Yoo Byung-un headed family that owns operator of Sewol ferry which sank in April, killing 300 
 
 South Korean police said on Tuesday that a body found last month in the south of the country belonged to a fugitive businessman who headed the family that owned the operator of a ferry that capsized in April, killing more than 300 people. 
 
 Police said at a press conference that a badly decomposed body found on June 12 had been identified by DNA evidence as well as fingerprints as that of Yoo Byung-un, who had been the subject of the country's largest manhunt. 
 
 The discovery ended a massive, months-long manhunt for the 73-year-old billionaire whose family owns the Sewol ferry operator, Chonghaejin Marine Co. 
 
 The heavily decomposed corpse was recovered on June 12 from a plum field in Suncheon, a city 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Seoul. 
 
 Tests matched the DNA of the body to Yoo's elder brother, leading police to believe the body was that of the reclusive billionaire.Yoo went on the run shortly after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank on April 16 with 476 people on board, including 325 high school students. 
 
 The number of confirmed dead currently stands at 294, with 10 victims still unaccounted for. 
 
 The ferry disaster stunned South Korea and unleashed widespread public anger, as it emerged that incompetence, corruption and greed had all contributed to the scale of the disaster. 
 
 President Park Geun-Hye and her administration have been bitterly criticised for their response to the tragedy. 
 
 The captain and 14 surviving crew members are currently on trial, some of them on charges of wilful homicide which carry the death penalty. 
 
 A summons was issued for Yoo shortly after the sinking, but he refused to surrender to police and eventually went on the run. 
 
 A reward of 500 million won ($490,000) was offered for information leading to his capture, and 100 million won for that of his eldest son, Yoo Dae-Kyun. 
 
 Yoo was wanted for questioning on possible charges of embezzlement and criminal negligence, related to regulatory violations. 
 
 Many of his family members have been arrested, including his wife and his brother. A daughter is fighting an extradition bid from Paris. 
 
 Earlier this month, South Korean prosecutors filed embezzlement charges against his 71-year-old wife, Kwon Yun-Ja. 
 
 The charges were unrelated to the ferry sinking, and involved the alleged embezzlement of money from a splinter religious group established by Kwon's father. 
 
 In June, thousands of police officers conducted a raid on a major church complex looking for Yoo. 

 Image copyright AP Image caption A nationwide manhunt for ferry company owner Yoo Byung-eun was launched after the disaster 
 
 Police in South Korea have said that a body they found in June is that of the fugitive boss of the operator of a ferry that sank in April, killing more than 300 people. 
 
 The billionaire businessman Yoo Byung-eun went missing shortly after the disaster, sparking a massive manhunt. 
 
 DNA samples from the body matched those of Mr Yoo's brother, police spokesman Woo Hyung-ho said. 
 
 Police had wanted to question him on possible criminal negligence charges. 
 
 Mr Yoo, 73, was head of the family that owned ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine Co. 
 
 He went on the run shortly after the vessel, whose passengers were mostly schoolchildren, went down near Jindo island. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption The Sewol ferry had been carrying 476 passengers, mainly school children, when it capsized in April 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The tragedy triggered widespread grief and anger over corruption and poor emergency response 
 
 Yonhap news agency reported that police found a heavily decomposed body last month in a plum field in Suncheon, a city 300 km (186 miles) south of Seoul. 
 
 Mr Yoo was wanted for questioning on possible charges of embezzlement and criminal negligence, as prosecutors investigate whether the disaster was caused by mismanagement. 
 
 Many of his family members have been arrested and his daughter, who lives in France, is currently fighting an extradition bid. His eldest son is still on the run. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Police raided a church belonging to Mr Yoo last month and arrested several people accused of helping him 
 
 In June, some 6,000 police officers stormed a church complex in Anseong city belonging to Mr Yoo. 
 
 Four church followers were detained on charges of assisting his escape and police said they were looking for several more who had helped the billionaire. 
 
 Outside the church, supporters held up a large banner that read: "We'll protect Yoo Byung-eun even if 100,000 church members are all arrested." 
 
 A reward of 500m won ($490,000) had been offered for information leading to his capture and 100m won for that of his son, Yoo Dae-Kyun. 
 
 The sinking of the Sewol triggered widespread grief and anger at the government, which has promised to overhaul its bureaucracy and improve emergency response. 
 
 Two separate trials, one for the ferry's captain and crew, and another for Chonghaejin Marine Co officials, began last month.
– A decaying body found in a plum field is that of the fugitive billionaire who owned a ferry that sank in April, South Korean cops have confirmed. Yoo Byung-un, patriarch of the family that owned the ferry operator, went on the run soon after the Sewol sank and had been the subject of the country's biggest-ever manhunt, reports the Guardian. Police say DNA and fingerprints have confirmed the identity of the body that was found last month, soon after police raided a compound belonging to a Christian splinter group, of which Yoo was a leading member. The 73-year-old was wanted for questioning on charges including embezzlement and criminal negligence, and many of his family members have already been arrested, including his wife, the BBC reports. His eldest son is still on the run. The number of dead from the Sewol disaster stands at 294—most of them high school students—and 10 people are still listed as missing. After the sinking, investigators found that the ferry was routinely and severely overloaded. Company officials are now on trial—a separate trial than that of the ferry captain and crew members, who were charged with murder.