Special counsel bars Yoon from seeing anyone except lawyers, family until indictment
Published: 16 Jul. 2025, 13:34
![Former President Yoon Suk Yeol leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul after the pretrial detention hearing on July 9. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/07/16/f86f0e15-3097-4507-9770-c17d90e9d1f1.jpg)
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul after the pretrial detention hearing on July 9. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
The special counsel team led by Cho Eun-suk, which is investigating the Dec. 3 martial law case, has barred visits to former President Yoon Suk Yeol by anyone other than family members and legal counsel until he is indicted.
Deputy Special Counsel Park Ji-young said during a briefing on Wednesday that the directive was issued the previous day to the head of the Seoul Detention Center, where Yoon is being held.
“The decision was handled according to the standard procedures applied to ordinary suspects during the course of investigations,” Park said.
As a result, a planned meeting at 4:20 p.m. on the same day between Yoon and Morse Tan, senior executive director at Liberty University’s Center for Law & Government in the United States known for promoting election fraud conspiracy theories, was canceled.
Former President Yoon was taken back into custody on July 10 — just 124 days after his release in March — for abuse of power and other charges brought by the special prosecutor’s team.
Since then, Yoon has refused to appear before investigators, citing health concerns. The special counsel team determined that his reasons were not valid and attempted to compel his appearance twice, but Yoon reportedly refused both attempts.
The team issued a third order the previous night, instructing the Seoul Detention Center to bring Yoon to the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office by 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
If the third attempt to compel Yoon’s appearance fails, the special counsel is reportedly considering indicting him without questioning and allowing his initial 10-day detention period to expire without an extension. The current detention period ends on Saturday.
Prosecutors took a similar approach with former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, indicting them without questioning after they refused to cooperate while in custody.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM SEONG-JIN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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