Yoon Suk Yeol receives 7 jail visits a day; president's lawyers say Yoon unfairly criticized

Arrested President Yoon Suk Yeol received a total of 70 outside visitors while imprisoned, from Jan. 15 to Monday, meaning Yoon received seven visits a day on average for the 10 weekdays, data showed Friday.

According to data from the Justice Ministry compiled by Rep. Kim Seung-won of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, among the 70 rounds of visits to Yoon, currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center following his indictment, 66 were from Yoon's lawyers.

An inmate's meeting with lawyers in person typically takes place at a private conference room outside the inmate's prison cell. Under South Korean law, there is no constraint over the length of time and frequency of an inmate's meetings with lawyers.

But the frequency of Yoon's meetings with his lawyers has stirred debate, as a member of the general prison population has a single meeting with legal representation roughly once in 50 days.

According to the latest figure from the Justice Ministry, a South Korean inmate annually had 5.5 meetings with their lawyers on average throughout the year of 2023, given that South Korea's average daily prison population was 56,577 inmates, and they had 310,379 jail visits with lawyers.

In 2023, inmates received an average of 37.5 total jail visits, including lawyers, family, friends and others, or slightly over three a month.

This indicates that Yoon "has been enjoying luxurious prison life and does not feel remorseful" after he allegedly led an insurrection through a self-coup in December, Kim said in a statement.

Yoon's legal team on Friday hit back at the claim, saying Yoon has been unfairly criticized.

"Any defendant on trial has a fundamental right of defense guaranteed by the Constitution to meet with their lawyer, and there are established precedents over restrictions regarding the amount of times and frequency," Yoon's legal team said in a statement, adding that the lawyers are running out of time to review records for witness examinations at the impeachment trial as the Constitutional Court hastens the procedure.

Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party's Reps. Yoon Sang-hyun and Kim Meen-geon on Friday went to the Seoul Detention Center to visit Yoon, following other ruling party lawmakers' visit there Monday.

Rep. Yoon told reporters after a 30-minute jail visit Friday morning that President Yoon urged his supporters to remain organized in the face of the crisis of South Korea's liberal democracy.

He added that the impeached president said his decision to appear at the impeachment trial himself was a good one, claiming the trial would have continued misrepresenting what had happened on the night of the martial law declaration otherwise.