Prosecutors demanded Friday a four-year jail term for the son of the Sewol ferry owner, accusing him of embezzling company funds.

Yoo Dae-gyun, whose father owned the ferry Sewol that capsized off the southwest coast last year, was convicted at a lower court last November of the misappropriation of about 7.4 billion won ($6.8 million) from his father's companies between 2002 and 2013.

The lower court sentenced him to three years in prison.

At a Seoul Appellate Court hearing, prosecutors also demanded the junior Yoo forfeit 7.3 billion won.

Yoo's late father Byung-eun owned Cheonghaejin Marine Co., the operator of the Sewol. His badly decayed body was found in a plum field in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, in July last year, three months into a large scale manhunt.

More than 300 passengers were killed or missing in the ferry disaster last April. Most of the victims were high school students on a field trip. (Yonhap)