'Life Sentence' Yoon Sukyeol Returns to 2-Pyeong Solitary Cell at Seoul Detention Center... Dinner Is Seaweed Soup and Multigrain Rice

Unconvicted detainees are usually held in detention centers
Once the sentence is finalized, convicted prisoners are sent to regular prisons
Six trials still pending...high likelihood of remaining at the Seoul Detention Center

Former President Yoon Sukyeol, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first-instance trial on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection related to the December 3 emergency martial law, will continue his incarceration at the Seoul Detention Center.

Former president Yoon Sukyeol attended the first-instance verdict hearing on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection related to the December 3 declaration of martial law at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District on the 19th. Yonhap News

According to the legal community on the 19th, after the sentencing is over, former President Yoon will return to a solitary cell of about 2 pyeong at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. Until his sentence is finalized, he will remain an unconvicted detainee and continue his detention under the same conditions as before.

The first dinner menu after his return to the detention center will be perilla-seed seaweed soup, braised tteokgalbi with vegetables, napa cabbage kimchi, and multigrain rice.

The room where former President Yoon is staying is about 2 pyeong and is said to be equipped with a locker, a TV, a desk that also serves as a dining table, tableware, and a toilet. Electric heating panels are installed under the floor for warmth, and bedding is laid on top for sleeping.

The communal shower room and exercise yard are reportedly used at times that do not overlap with other inmates. Outdoor exercise is limited to within one hour during the daily schedule.

As a rule, a person under unconvicted-detainee status is held in a detention center, and once the sentence is finalized and the status changes to that of a convicted prisoner, the person is confined in a regular prison. If the Supreme Court trial stage becomes prolonged after the second-instance sentencing, unconvicted detainees may be transferred to nearby prisons in consideration of issues such as overcrowding.

However, in the case of former President Yoon, there is a strong possibility that he will remain at the Seoul Detention Center even after his sentence is finalized, given that he currently faces as many as six ongoing criminal trials at the first-instance level.

Former President Yoon has appealed after being sentenced to five years in prison in the first-instance trial on charges of obstructing an arrest. In addition to the insurrection ringleader case for which the sentencing was delivered on this day, six other trials remain, including allegations of a Pyongyang drone incursion and alleged perjury in the trial of former Prime Minister Han Ducksoo.