As president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol lived in an expensive 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 rebellion expenses early Sunday, in accordance with the Korean information company Yonhap, 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 Middle, 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 court docket in Seoul issued the warrant to arrest him, he went from being a brief detainee to a felony suspect going through an indictment and trial.
That change in standing meant that Mr. Yoon was unlikely to go away jail any time quickly. Throughout the subsequent 18 days, felony investigators and prosecutors had been anticipated to indict him on expenses of main an rebellion throughout his short-lived martial legislation final month. If he’s convicted, he’ll face life imprisonment or the demise penalty.
Mr. Yoon’s new circumstances had been symbolic of 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 rebellion expenses because the former navy 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 White Home dinner in 2023.
Now, Mr. Yoon will get up to not presidential aides and cooks catering to his wants, however to a easy jail breakfast normally made up of dumpling soup, bread or cereals. 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.
“Satirically, it was after I used to be impeached that I actually realized that I’m, certainly, the president,” Mr. Yoon mentioned in a prolonged assertion on Wednesday.
Many South Korean politicians and dignitaries — together with two former presidents and Lee Jae-yong, the top of the Samsung conglomerate — have been held on the Seoul Detention Middle 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 expenses. The jail additionally holds among the nation’s most notorious demise row inmates, together with serial killers.
Authorities officers mentioned Mr. Yoon would get no particular remedy, besides that he could 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 could 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 via closed-circuit tv.
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 mentioned his motion was impressed partially by the identical concern, indignation and suspicions unfold by the extremists on YouTube.
The jail TV reveals solely applications licensed by the Ministry of Justice. Inmates have no entry to the web, together with YouTube. At rallies calling for Mr. Yoon’s arrest in current 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 frolicked in a solitary cell within the Seoul Detention Middle, posted jail survival tips about X. “It’s important to learn to save heat water since you wash your individual dishes. Should you eat every thing they serve, you’ll achieve weight shortly.”
Mr. Yoon was anticipated to fulfill steadily along with his attorneys in a visiting space to organize for his trials. Individually, the nation’s Constitutional Court docket is deliberating whether or not the Nationwide Meeting’s vote on Dec. 14 to question him was official and if he must 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 temporary interval, he ordered navy commanders to seize the Meeting and arrest his political enemies, in accordance with prosecutors who’ve arrested and indicted the navy generals accused of serving to Mr. Yoon commit rebellion.
Mr. Yoon and his legal professionals insisted that his imposition of martial legislation was a official 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 Middle. However he has since refused to go away his cell to face extra questioning.
“He made his fundamental positions recognized through the first day of questioning, and he not feels a purpose or must topic himself to a question-and-answer kind of interrogation,” mentioned one in every of his legal professionals, Seok Dong-hyeon.
When Ms. Park, the previous president, was held within the detention heart, die-hard supporters gathered close to its partitions each morning and shouted “Good morning, President Park Geun-hye!”
Since Mr. Yoon’s arrival, some supporters have camped outdoors, calling his impeachment and his arrest “null and void.”
