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Ex-first lady to be held in separate facility from Yoon known as 'hotel of detention centers'

Published: 13 Aug. 2025, 10:21

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, leaves Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Aug. 12, after an arrest warrant hearing. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, who was taken into custody late Tuesday, was initially expected to await the results of her detention warrant hearing at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, where her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, is being held, and then be incarcerated there.

However, at the request of the Seoul Detention Center, she waited for the hearing results in the holding room for summoned suspects at the Seoul Southern Detention Center — and has remained there since. The facility is about 16 kilometers (10 miles) away from the Seoul Detention Center.

The Seoul Southern Detention Center in Guro District, western Seoul, was completed in October 2011, replacing the aging Yeongdeungpo Detention Center in Gocheok-dong, Guro District, which had faced deterioration issues.

Apart from the Seoul Eastern Detention Center — relocated to Munjeong-dong, Songpa District, southern Seoul, in 2017 — the Seoul Southern Detention Center is the most recently built correctional facility in the Seoul and Gyeonggi area.

It can house up to 1,600 inmates and features a state-of-the-art, five-stage monitoring and detection system, as well as solar and geothermal heating and cooling facilities. Compared to the Seoul Detention Center, built in 1987, its modern amenities have earned it the nickname “hotel of detention centers.”

On Wednesday, Kim will be moved to a solitary cell for female inmates. She will undergo a thorough physical examination, change into an inmate uniform for pretrial detainees and pose for a mug shot holding a placard with her inmate number.

Her solitary cell measures about 6.56 square meters (70.6 square feet), slightly larger than those at the Seoul Detention Center. It is equipped with a folding mattress and blanket, storage cabinet, TV, desk that doubles as a dining table, sink and toilet. Meals — three per day — include soup and three side dishes. She will be allowed one hour of outdoor exercise daily.

The facility has previously housed figures such as Choi Soon-sil, who changed her name to Choi Seo-won, known as the confidante of Park Geun-hye in the former president’s political scandal in 2016. Former Dongyang University professor Chung Kyung-shim was also jailed there for academic fraud and admissions corruption, and former South Chungcheong Gov. Ahn Hee-jung was also housed there after being convicted of rape.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.
BY KIM SEONG-JIN [[email protected]]