SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The eldest son of the sunken South Korean ferry's de-facto owner on Wednesday got a three-year jail term for embezzlement and dereliction of duty, according to local media reports.
The district court in Incheon, the country's western port city, sentenced Yoo Dae-kyun to three years in prison for misappropriating 7.39 billion won (7.3 million U.S. dollars) from the ferry Sewol's operator Cheonghaejin Marine and six other affiliates between May 2002 and December 2013.
The 44-year-old is the eldest son of Yoo Byung-eun, the late owner of the ferry, which sank off the southwestern coast on April 16 this year and claimed more than 300 lives, mostly high school students.
Police and prosecutors had sought Yoo and his son as their corruption and irregularities were believed to have caused the country's worst maritime disaster.
The body of the fugitive owner was found on June 12 in the southern city of Suncheon, and the son was arrested at a hideout in a town just outside of Seoul on July 25.
In the same ruling, the court sentenced Yoo Byung-ill, the elder brother of Byung-eun, to one year in prison with a two-year stay of execution for embezzlement. Yoo Byung-ho, the younger brother of the late owner, received a two-year jail term for the same charge.
The court handed down prison terms, ranging from 18 months to four years, to 10 of the late owner's close aides.
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