January 31, 2025
SEOUL – A ban on visitors for President Yoon Suk Yeol was to be lifted Friday, allowing the sitting president, who remains in pretrial detention while indicted over allegations linked to the martial law crisis, to receive visitors other than his lawyers.
Right-wing politicians seek to take advantage of the eased restrictions to rally support for the conservative president.
Presidential officials, including Yoon’s chief of staff Chung Jin-suk and Chung’s predecessor Kim Dae-ki, who served in the same role for Yoon in 2023-24, are reportedly mulling a visit as soon as Friday, after the Lunar New Year, or Seollal, holiday.
The presidential office declined to comment when asked about plans for them to visit the detention center.
Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of Yoon’s ruling People Power Party, was also among the lawmakers expected to visit the Seoul Detention Center after the Seollal holiday.
Kweon, who has sought to position himself as close to Yoon, told reporters in a press conference at the National Assembly on Thursday that it was only right for him to visit as the president is going through tough times.
“I believe personal relationships come before politics. Before considering political advantages or disadvantages, I need to do what’s right as a human being. I do not have any specific plan, and even if I make my visit, I plan to do it quietly,” Kweon said.
Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling party told reporters Tuesday that he and other lawmakers wished to meet with and encourage the president. The five-term lawmaker said he plans to visit the detention center next week.
Yoon is allowed to meet visitors once a day.
This came as the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which led a joint investigation with police and the military into Yoon’s martial law declaration, requested that the Seoul Detention Center lift Yoon’s visitation ban after the investigative body transferred Yoon’s case to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Jan. 23.
The CIO, which banned Yoon from receiving visitors other than his legal representatives, citing concerns about destruction of evidence, said it was now the task of prosecutors to take appropriate measures against Yoon, according to the CIO. The measure was in effect for a week, prohibiting people close to Yoon, including first lady Kim Keon Hee, from visiting the arrested president.
Although the visitor restriction was lifted last week, inmates at the prison cannot have visitors on weekends or national holidays, which means the detained president would be able to meet with associates only after the Lunar New Year holiday on Friday.
Meanwhile, the president’s legal representatives are expected to request bail.
If the court does not approve bail, Yoon could be held at the detention center for up to six months.
Prosecutors indicted the president on Jan. 26 on charges of insurrection, cutting short their investigation after the Seoul Central District Court dismissed two consecutive requests from the prosecution on Jan. 24 and 25 seeking to extend the warrant to continue gathering evidence.
The court ruled that an extension was neither necessary nor justifiable given that the prosecution is not an investigative authority.