With former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee being held in separate Seoul detention centers, public curiosity has zeroed in on the couple’s daily life behind bars — particularly their meals.
According to the monthly meal plan from correctional authorities, Yoon is expected to have a 1,730 won ($1.25) jail meal consisting of beef and vegetable porridge with steamed potatoes for Wednesday's breakfast.
The Justice Ministry revealed that three meals are provided per day for every inmate at the Seoul detention center, budgeted at 5,201 won. This amounts to approximately 1,730 won per meal.
Meals for lunch and dinner are served in a traditional Korean style, with rice, soup, side dishes and kimchi. The detained former president, who has been in custody at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, since July 10, is scheduled to have braised chicken with seasoned dried seaweed and stew with soft tofu for Wednesday's lunch and dinner, respectively.
Meanwhile, sliced white bread with strawberry jam, salad and sausage are available for the former first lady’s breakfast on Wednesday, according to the Korea Correctional Service.
Kim will have pork kimchi stew with sweet and sour dumplings for lunch, like any other inmate at the Seoul Southern Detention Center. Wednesday's dinner will be chilled cucumber and seaweed soup with rice and kimchi. Kim's attorneys have relayed to media that she has not been eating well.
The inmates are provided with nutritious meals totaling over 2,500 calories per day. No outside food is allowed.
The ministry also explained that the quantities may be adjusted in the event of a sharp rise in ingredient prices to ensure appropriate budget execution.
Inmates are required to eat in their cells and have to wash their meal tray in the sink before returning it.
While meals comprising rice, soup, side dishes and kimchi are served for most days of the month, the inmates are occasionally served different foods, including breakfast cereal, cream soup, pork cutlets and tteokbokki, or rice cakes cooked in a spicy gochujang sauce.
The prison menu’s disclosure has sparked backlash, with some criticizing that alleged criminals are living better than many law-abiding people in the free world.
One online community member expressed that “the former president, who is in custody, is being fed with decent meals, while I survive on two packs of instant noodles.”
“The meals that inmates get are surprisingly luxurious. Even the children at day care centers don’t eat this well,” one anonymous commenter said on a YouTube video, titled “Yoon Suk Yeol’s detention center meal plan.”
Though Yoon and Kim both receive the same meals as other inmates, both were assigned solitary cells, given their status as the former presidential couple. The roughly 6.6-square-meter cell is furnished with a cabinet, television, sink, bathroom, foldable table and mattress.
The former presidential couple’s showering and exercise times are reportedly scheduled so that they do not overlap with those of other inmates.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
