A former senior aide to ousted President Park Geun-hye has been taken into custody on charges of lying about Park's handling of the deadly 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which claimed the lives of more than 300 people.

Kim Kyou-hyun, a former career diplomat who served as first deputy chief of the presidential National Security Office and then senior presidential foreign affairs secretary, was detained by prosecution investigators upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport from the United States on Thursday.

Kim Kyou-hyun (Yonhap)

Prosecutors had asked Interpol to place Kim on its Red Notice list of suspects, as he refused to comply with the investigation while staying in the US

Kim is suspected of submitting a report to the National Assembly that gave false details of Park's handling of the ferry's sinking, such as the time when she first received a report on the disaster, in an apparent effort to avoid criticism of having bungled the response to the tragedy.

Prosecutors plan to question Kim and decide whether to seek a warrant for his arrest. (Yonhap)