Since the body of Yoo Byung-eun, the South Korean swindler and owner of the ferry that capsized killing 304 on board, was discovered on June 12, evidence has emerged that he used his myriad companies to promote his artistic alter ego, AHAE. Milan Knizak, the former director of the National Gallery of Prague and a close ally of former Czech president Vaclav Klaus, was also a big supporter of AHAE, leading some to question whether there was more than mere artistic appreciation at work.



Yoo's links to the Czech Republic were not limited to Knizak. Gabriel Oh, the former south Korean Ambassador in Prague, was married to Yoo's niece. Oh has now been arrested for attempting to secure political asylum for Yoo in the Czech embassy in Korea.


The rotting body of Yoo Byung-eun, the de factor owner of the Sewol ferry that sank in April this year killing 304 passengers, almost all of them schoolchildren, was discovered on June 11th this year, bringing to a grisly conclusion the largest manhunt in South Korean history.

Prosecutors claim that the reason Sewol sank was because money that should have been spent on making the vessel seaworthy was instead being siphoned off by Yoo to promote AHAE, his artistic alter ego. (see NYTimes.com "In Ferry Deaths, a South Korean Tycoon's downfall" 27 July 2014)

Apparently, Yoo had been pouring millions into re-inventing himself as an artist, renting out prestigious exhibition space around the world to display AHAE's photographs and engaging western art curators, such as Milan Knizak, former director of the National Gallery of Prague (1999-2011), to praise his 'remarkable artistic personality' and his art as an excellent store of value for investors (see here).

Three years ago, Yoo organized a tour of his photographs, with exhibitions, all paid for by Yoo's own companies, staged in places like the palace of Versailles and Grand Central Terminal in New York. The tour took in Prague as well, with an exhibition organised by Knizak held in the National Gallery.

"I was honored to organize a retrospective exhibition of the Korean artist AHAE, which was very successful", said Knizak, who is a close associate of the former Czech president, Vaclav Klaus.

"I put together an international team of specialists and created a representative publication showing the richness of AHAE's personality, entitled 'Book on AHAE: so simple, so beautiful, so perfect', published by Kant in 2012." (The book is available on AHAE's website for a mere $250 US if you are interested.) It is not known if Knizak was paid for his work in promoting AHAE. The National Gallery of Prague received a donation from Yoo Byung-eun to stage the AHAE exhibition the size of which is unknown (see this interview with Knizak in Lidove noviny in June this year http://www.lidovky.cz/nejhledanejsi-jihokorejec-vystavoval-v-cesku-knizak-jeho-umeni-haji-1id-/zpravy-svet.aspx?c=A140610_165401_ln_zahranici_msl).

Knizak describes AHAE as "not only a photographer and poet but also an inventor, entrepreneur, scientist, philanthropist, ecologist and sportsman. He is a remarkable artistic personality. But I want to emphasize his philanthropy. I know many concrete cases where he has helped people to survive." Unless they were the unfortunate souls who used his overloaded ferry.

According to the New York Times article, "Of all the Yoo family's schemes, prosecutors and financial regulators say, the most elaborate involved the photographs taken by Mr Yoo's artistic alter ego. The Yoos forced their own businesses, including the ferry company, to buy his photos at inflated prices, pitching them as good investments, prosecutors say."

Knizak indeed points out that AHAE's photos are a sound investment: "AHAE's photographs are accepted as part of our global culture, but they didn't become fashionable like (unfortunately) some contemporary art. The prices of AHAE's artwork are reasonable and have never jumped too high. This is a sign of his strength, dignity and humbleness."

Shortly after the Sewol ferry disaster in April this year, Yoo issued a statement dismissing suggestions that he had forced his business affiliates to buy his photos at rip-off prices. Attached to his press release was a statement by Knizak vouchsafing for the quality of AHAE's artworks.

Curiously enough, Yoo was in the habit of giving a device for administering enemas to those whose help he needed. This was because, as the leader of a hugely profitable religious cult in South Korean, he championed purity and bodily cleanliness.

One well-connected couple was approached by Yoo seeking help with introductions to art curators in Prague. At the end of the meeting, they were given what the wife said "looked like a hookah. In fact, it turned out to be an enema kit. One each!" As Knizak observed in his plaudits to Yoo, "he is very unique with his purity [sic]." See this lavish write-up of AHAE in Fragmenty, the 'cultural economic review' published by admirers of Vaclav Klaus.

Professor Knizak will certainly have received an enema device from Yoo as well. Given the torrent of verbal diarrhea Knizak has written on AHAE, it seems an enema was the last thing Knizak needed. A stick of charcoal would have served the purpose. Milan Knizak is today a professor at the Czech academy of fine arts.

Yoo Byung-eun's links to the Czech Republic were not limited to Milan Knizak. Gabriel Oh, the former south Korean ambassador in Prague, was married to Yoo's daughter. Gabriel has now been arrested for attempting to secure political asylum for Yoo in the Czech embassy in Korea (see here). Yoo appears to have assumed that he had a special relationship with the Czech Republic. Was this assumption based on Yoo's relationship with Knizak (and on Knizak's relationship with Vaclav Klaus)?