Former President Yoon Suk-yeol attends the first hearing for a case involving allegations of obstruction of special official duty and abuse of power, held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on September 26. Yonhap News. The special prosecutor's team investigating the alleged evasion of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup to Australia visited the Seoul Detention Center, where former President Yoon Suk-yeol is being held, on the 16th for the first "in-prison interrogation."

This is the first time a detention center visit has been conducted among the "three special prosecutors," including the one for rebellion and Kim Keon-hee.

According to the special prosecutor's team and the Correction Headquarters, the team visited the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi Province, around 1:30 PM to conduct a face-to-face interrogation of former President Yoon. This marks the second time the suspect has been interrogated, following the first session on the 11th.

The interrogation is reportedly taking place in a room for official meetings within the detention center, a common location for face-to-face interrogations of pre-trial detainees by investigative agencies.

It is understood that former President Yoon will be interrogated while wearing a prison uniform with his inmate number.

The special prosecutor's team plans to intensely question former President Yoon on the allegations of aiding former Minister Lee's evasion to Australia (obstruction of justice by aiding an offender, abuse of power).

The prepared questionnaire is approximately 60 pages long. Similar to the first interrogation, video recording will also be conducted.

On the special prosecutor's side, Chief Prosecutor Jeong Hyeon-seung, who is exclusively in charge of the investigation into the alleged evasion of former Minister Lee to Australia, is leading the interrogation, with one supporting prosecutor and one investigator present.

It is known that lawyer Chae Myeong-seong is present and representing former President Yoon.

While the special prosecutor's team had initially intended to summon former President Yoon for an interrogation, they decided to visit the detention center for the second interrogation, considering the investigation period and the requests from the defense counsel.

This marks the fifth instance of an investigative agency conducting an in-prison interrogation of a former president. Previously, the prosecution conducted on-site investigations at detention centers for former presidents Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, Park Geun-hye, and Lee Myung-bak.

Among these, former President Lee Myung-bak had consistently refused face-to-face interrogations by the prosecution after being arrested in March 2018 on charges of bribery and embezzlement related to DAS, and actual interrogations did not take place.

A transport vehicle carrying former President Yoon Suk-yeol enters the underground parking lot of the special prosecutor's team office for the deceased Marine investigation in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on November 11. Yonhap News. 

The allegations of evasion to Australia surfaced on March 4 of last year when former Minister Lee, who was under investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), was appointed as ambassador to Australia and departed the country.

Former Minister Lee, who was subject to an overseas travel ban, had the ban lifted four days after his appointment as ambassador, immediately departed, and took up his post. However, due to worsening public sentiment in Korea, he returned to the country after 11 days.

The special prosecutor's team has since investigated officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Security Office, securing evidence that the nomination of former Minister Lee as ambassador was unusual, the qualification review was hastily conducted, and the defense cooperation meeting, suspected of being a pretext for his return, was quickly planned.

Today, the special prosecutor's team is expected to question former President Yoon about the background of appointing former Minister Lee as ambassador to Australia and any instructions given to the National Security Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Justice regarding his departure and return.

Yonhap News