NEW YORK TIMES: SEOUL, South Korea — After all the lavish galas in his honor at landmarks like the Louvre and Versailles, the tens of thousands of devotees following his religious teachings for decades, the hundreds of homes and businesses reportedly stashed around the globe, Yoo Byung-eun ended up alone, his body splayed on its back and rotting in the weeds, empty liquor bottles by his side.
Weeks before, nearly 10,000 police officers had raided his church’s compound in the largest manhunt in South Korean history, armed with backhoes to dig up underground hiding places, only to leave empty-handed. They had almost caught him once, it turned out, but Mr. Yoo slipped away, hiding in a secret room behind a wall in a distant villa, almost $1 million in two suitcases at the ready…
Scores of cabins and even an art gallery laden with marble were added to the ferry’s upper decks, making the ship top-heavy. So much extra cargo was crammed on board that there was sometimes no space to secure it properly with chains and lashings. And, prosecutors say, the ferry’s crucial ballast water, needed to balance all the additional weight, was deliberately drained so that the vessel would not sit too low — a telltale sign to inspectors that the ferry was dangerously overloaded to bring in more money… (more)
