During his detention, former President Yoon Seok-yeol reportedly received special visitation privileges that are unimaginable for a regular inmate. It has been pointed out that he was allowed visits at night and on weekends, and meetings with lawyers were even permitted in investigation rooms.
The Democratic Party’s Special Response Committee for Three Major Special Prosecution Cases held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 1st, revealing Yoon’s visitation records. According to the committee, Yoon had consultations with a total of 348 individuals, including lawyers, for 395 hours and 18 minutes during his entire detention period.
During the first detention period (January 16 to March 6, totaling 49 days), Yoon met with 292 people over 151 visits, accumulating 341 hours and 25 minutes in visitation time. In the second detention period (July 10 to July 29, totaling 19 days), he met with 56 people over 40 visits, totaling 53 hours and 53 minutes.
The committee criticized that these visitation figures exceed the typical scope of lawyer and general visits. They highlighted that visits occurred outside of regular working hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and even on weekends. They also pointed out that lawyer visits took place in ‘investigation rooms’ where prosecutors or police conduct official investigations.
Regarding this, the committee plans to demand from the Seoul Detention Center to cooperate with the special prosecutor’s enforcement regarding Yoon’s detention. They also intend to request immediate submission to the National Assembly of internal meeting materials and the basis for permitting special visitations, such as location-changing visits and night visits, related to Yoon’s case.