South Korea offers half-a-million dollar reward for ferry operator owner

Family members of dead and missing passengers onboard the sunken ferry Sewol, cry at a port in Jindo May 20, 2014. REUTERS/Yonhap

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has hiked to nearly half a million dollars its reward for information leading to the capture of Yoo Byung-un, the head of the family that owns the operator of a ferry that capsized and sank last month, killing more than 300 people.

The figure of 500 million won ($490,000) being offered by authorities after a week of futile searching for Yoo is a tenfold increase from the 50 million set initially, and is the maximum allowed by criminal law as a reward for fugitives.