SEOUL: South Korea’s impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol had his mug shot taken and underwent a physical check before spending his first night in jail as a criminal suspect, a prison officer said on Monday (Jan 20).
Yoon was arrested in a dawn raid last week, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be detained in a criminal probe on insurrection charges over his botched declaration of martial law.
South Korea was plunged into political chaos by Yoon’s Dec 3 martial law declaration, which lasted just six hours before lawmakers voted it down. They later impeached him, stripping him of his duties.
Yoon also faces a concurrent Constitutional Court case deciding whether to uphold that impeachment, as well as the criminal investigation over which he was detained.
His lawyers said late on Monday he would attend a Constitutional Court hearing on Tuesday afternoon for the first time.
A court approved his formal arrest warrant on Sunday, citing concerns he would destroy evidence, and Yoon went from being a temporary detainee to a criminal suspect facing an indictment and trial.
Yoon was given a 12 sq m cell at Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang on Sunday, according to Shin Yong-hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service.
He was “assigned to one of the standard rooms used by regular inmates”, Shin told lawmakers during a parliamentary session.
Yoon’s cell – which typically would hold five or six people, Yonhap reported – is similar in size to those where past presidents have been detained, Shin said.
Source: CNA
