Ex-tycoon to be extradited from the U.S.

A former Korean business tycoon will be extradited from the United States next month, 14 years after he fled while under investigation on embezzlement charges, the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.

Na Seon-ju, former vice chairman of the now-defunct Geopyeong Group, 52, is one of 18 South Korean fugitives arrested in joint operations with U.S. and Chinese authorities since the international cooperation team was set up at the highest prosecutors’ office, officials said.

He was arrested in October and will be extradited in mid-February.

Na was accused of inflicting about 400 billion won ($371 million) of damage to a financial institution that he took over in 1997 by having the institution extend illegal loans to subsidiaries of the conglomerate.

He fled to the United States in 1999 while under investigation.

The Geopyeong Group went bankrupt in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

Yonhap