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| Cars drive into Geumsuwon, compound of the Salvation Sect, on Saturday for funeral proceedings for de facto Sewol owner Yoo Byung-eun. / Yonhap |
The two-day funeral of the late owner of the doomed ferry Sewol began Saturday, roughly two months after the wealthy religious leader on a nationwide manhunt was found dead in a remote mountain in southern Korea.
The official schedule for Yoo Byung-eun's funeral began at 10 a.m., joined by thousands of members of the Evangelical Baptist Church at a spacious compound owned by the Christian sect in Anseong, about 80 kilometers south of Seoul.
Uninvited visitors, including the press, were denied access to the funeral.
Immediate family members of Yoo, including those who have been temporarily released for the funeral, greeted mourners at an auditorium inside the compound, according to church sources.
Mourners sang hymns as they watched video clips of the deceased ferry owner on jumbo screens set up at the makeshift funeral hall, the sources said. Police estimated the crowd at 2,000.
The religious group, also known as the Salvation Sect, is set to wrap up the funeral on Sunday and bury Yoo's body at a hill overlooking the compound.
Yoo's body was found on June 12, and DNA tests confirmed the skeletal remains belonged to the religious leader.
Yoo was held responsible for the sinking of the ferry that claimed the lives of about 300 people, mostly high school students on a school trip.
Four family members -- his eldest son, wife, younger brother and brother-in-law -- were arrested on various corruption charges that officials said had contributed to the disaster and the high death toll. They were temporarily released from prison to attend the funeral.
Police said they have dispatched 60 officers for close-distance surveillance of those four family members who were temporarily released. Authorities have also dispatched some 200 guards to oversee the religious compound in case of an emergency situation. (Yonhap)
