As president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol lived in an opulent hilltop mansion, threw events and had a small military of non-public guards. As of late, he’s alone in a 107-square-foot jail cell, consuming easy meals like noodles and kimchi soup, and sleeping on the ground.
This will likely be his new actuality for some time but, after he was formally arrested on riot fees early Sunday as a part of an investigation into his ill-fated declaration of martial legislation final month.
Mr. Yoon, 64, has been within the Seoul Detention Heart, a government-run jail south of Seoul, since Wednesday, when he turned the primary sitting president in South Korean historical past to be detained in a felony investigation. When a district courtroom in Seoul issued the warrant to arrest him, he went from being a brief detainee to a felony suspect dealing with an indictment and trial.
That change in standing means Mr. Yoon is unlikely to depart jail any time quickly. Throughout the subsequent 18 days, felony investigators and prosecutors are anticipated to indict him on fees of main an riot throughout his short-lived martial legislation final month. If he’s convicted, he’ll face life imprisonment or the dying penalty.
Mr. Yoon’s new circumstances symbolize his dramatic fall from grace: from a swaggering head of state to an impeached president to an inmate accused of committing one of many worst offenses in South Korea’s felony code. He’s the primary South Korean to face riot fees for the reason that former army dictator Chun Doo-hwan, who was convicted within the Nineties.
As president, Mr. Yoon cherished to throw events, usually inviting like-minded politicians to night drinks and even cooking and serving rolled egg and barbecue to his presidential press corps. He confirmed off his well-honed entertaining expertise overseas when he belted out “American Pie” throughout a state dinner on the White Home in 2023.
On Sunday, Mr. Yoon will get up to not presidential aides and cooks catering to his wants, however to a easy jail breakfast prone to include dumpling soup, dried radish and cabbage kimchi. A median meal in jail prices $1.20.
The dramatic political upheaval he unleashed seems to have shocked him as a lot as on a regular basis South Koreans.
“Paradoxically, it was after I used to be impeached that I actually realized that I’m, certainly, the president,” Mr. Yoon stated in a prolonged assertion on Wednesday.
Many South Korean politicians and dignitaries — together with two former presidents and Lee Jae-yong, the pinnacle of the Samsung conglomerate — have been held on the Seoul Detention Heart in Uiwang, a metropolis south of Seoul. When he was a prosecutor, Mr. Yoon helped put one of many two former presidents, Park Geun-hye, there on corruption fees. The jail additionally holds among the nation’s most notorious dying row inmates, together with serial killers.
Authorities officers stated Mr. Yoon would get no particular remedy, besides that he can be stored in a room of his personal, away from different detainees and inmates. After his formal arrest, he was anticipated to undergo a easy medical checkup and obtain a toothbrush and different requirements for jail life. He can be assigned an inmate quantity and a pea-green jail uniform.
His cell may have a TV set, a sink, a small cabinet, a studying desk that doubles as a dinner desk, and a foldable mattress for sleeping. The cell has a bathroom however no bathe. The area will likely be monitored across the clock by closed-circuit tv. There’s train time and visiting hours.
Mr. Yoon has been an avid follower of right-wing YouTubers who supported his authorities and unfold conspiracy theories that depicted his home enemies as harmful sympathizers with North Korea and China. Since he declared martial legislation on Dec. 3, Mr. Yoon has stated his motion was impressed partially by the identical concern, indignation and suspicions unfold by the extremists on YouTube.
The jail TV reveals solely packages approved by the Ministry of Justice. Inmates can’t use the web, however they’ve entry to books and newspapers. At rallies calling for Mr. Yoon’s arrest in latest weeks, some protesters held indicators that learn: “Yoon Suk Yeol: It’s time for a digital detox!”
Yang Kyeung-soo, a labor union chief who had hung out in a solitary cell within the Seoul Detention Heart, posted jail survival tips about X. “It’s important to discover ways to save heat water since you wash your personal dishes. In the event you eat all the pieces they serve, you’ll achieve weight shortly.”
Mr. Yoon was anticipated to fulfill regularly together with his attorneys in a visiting space to arrange for his trials. Individually, the nation’s Constitutional Courtroom is deliberating whether or not the Nationwide Meeting’s vote on Dec. 14 to question him was reputable and if he ought to be formally faraway from workplace.
Mr. Yoon’s martial legislation lasted solely six hours as a result of the opposition-dominated Nationwide Meeting voted it down. However throughout that transient interval, he ordered army commanders to seize the Meeting and arrest his political enemies, based on prosecutors who’ve arrested and indicted the army generals accused of serving to Mr. Yoon commit riot.
Mr. Yoon and his attorneys insisted that his imposition of martial legislation was a reputable use of presidential energy.
After they detained Mr. Yoon on Wednesday, officers from the nation’s Corruption Investigation Workplace For Excessive-ranking Officers questioned him till he was despatched to relaxation in a cell on the Seoul Detention Heart at night time. He then refused to depart his cell to face extra questioning.
However on Saturday, he attended a listening to on the Seoul Western District Courtroom, the place a decide deliberated on whether or not to challenge a warrant to arrest him. He argued his innocence as 1000’s of supporters gathered exterior demanding his launch. Some later surrounded two automobiles carrying the investigators who sought to arrest Mr. Yoon, shouting insults and damaging their autos.
Early Sunday, the decide issued the arrest warrant, saying that Mr. Yoon may destroy proof if he was launched.
Shortly afterward, indignant Yoon supporters breached police barricades and went into the courthouse, smashing home windows with hearth extinguishers and plastic chairs. They climbed in by the damaged home windows, kicking computer systems, shattering wall mirrors and overturning different furnishings inside. Extra joined them by pushing and breaking by the primary glass doorways of the courthouse. Some shouted for the decide to return out, based on live-streamed video footage of the scene. Others yelled “Cancel the warrant!”
The police shortly moved in to revive order and detained dozens of protesters.
