Yoo’s account manager to be sent back to Seoul

Kim Hye-kyung, who handled money for the late patriarch of the family that owned the doomed Sewol ferry, will be extradited to Korea from the United States sometime this week, the Ministry of Justice announced yesterday.

Kim, 52, the CEO of Korea Pharmaceuticals, is believed by prosecutors to have managed the hidden assets of the late Yoo Byung-eun and his family by registering them under her name. “When Kim arrives at Incheon International Airport, we will arrest her with a warrant that has already been issued by the court,” a prosecutor on the special investigation team at the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office said.

Kim’s return to the country this week counters an earlier prediction that it could take months for authorities to take her into custody. It was initially presumed that she would legally fight any attempts at deportation.

Kim was arrested on Sept. 4 in Virginia over an immigration law violation.

BY LEE YU-JEONG [jkkang2@joongang.co.kr]