2014/07/26

Reuters July 25 2014: Forensic team unable to say how South Korea ferry businessman died.

South Korea's forensic agency said on Friday it was impossible to determine the cause of death of a businessman linked to a ferry that sank killing 304 people in April because there was too much tissue damage to his badly decomposed body.

Yoo Byung-un, 73, was found dead in an orchard on June 12 after eluding authorities for nearly two months in South Korea's biggest manhunt, hiding behind the wall of a rural cabin in the final days while it was being searched. [ID:nL4N0PY2OO]

Police identified his body only this week, 40 days after a farmer reported its discovery at his orchard, stirring public anger over what many said was incompetent work to arrest Yoo over the ferry disaster that horrified the country.

An autopsy and DNA tests on the body revealed no evidence that he was poisoned, and there was also no indication of external trauma, forensic agency chief Seo Joong-seok told a news conference.

"We are aware there are many questions and did our best, but it was impossible to determine the cause of death," said Lee Han-young, a senior official at the forensic agency.

"It is possible in some cases involving decomposed bodies to determine the cause of death but, in Yoo Byung-un's case, there was simply too much tissue damage so it was difficult to find leads that can determine the cause of death," he said. more