Embezzler had plastic surgery, but lure of Gangnam bars leads to his arrest

A South Korean man who embezzled US$4.3 million and had plastic surgery to evade capture has been arrested after a hostess-bar spending spree in Seoul's upmarket Gangnam district.

The 33-year-old was tracked down after two of his accomplices were arrested, police said.

The head of accounting at a semi-conductor manufacturer, the suspect transferred company funds to a series of secret bank accounts, police said.

Feigning a family emergency, he left the company in early January, withdrew much of the cash, and went on a 10-day binge in Gangnam, spending money on high-class hostess bars and buying a Mercedes-Benz.

Worried that he might be spotted, he went to the southern city of Gwangju, where he had extensive plastic surgery to assume a new identity.

He then returned to his high-spending ways at hostess bars, but police eventually caught up with him near Gwangju on Wednesday following a tip-off from his detained accomplices.

The suspect was "a totally different person" when he was taken into custody, a police spokeswoman in Asan, south of Seoul, said.

"He'd had a nose and eye job, and his face had changed drastically," the spokeswoman said.

The Gangnam district has gained worldwide fame from South Korean rapper Psy's Gangnam Style - a video parodying the excesses of the trendy Seoul area which became the first YouTube upload to break a billion views.