This Chuseok marks Yoon's fourth holiday in detention, Kim's third

Ministry of Justice halted holiday special meals starting last year's Lunar New Year

Special meals allowed on national holidays — but Chuseok is a public holiday, not a national holiday

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee. [Yonhap]
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee. [Yonhap]

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee will spend the Chuseok holiday behind bars. It is the third time the couple has marked a major holiday while both are in detention, following last year's Chuseok and this year's Lunar New Year.

During the Chuseok holiday, neither general visits nor phone calls will be permitted, and no special holiday meals will be provided. Exercise, rehabilitation programs and joint ancestral rites will be held at the discretion of each correctional facility.

Both Seoul Detention Center, where Yoon is held, and Seoul Southern Detention Center, where Kim is held, will serve regular scheduled meals throughout the holiday with no special additions.

On Chuseok day itself — Friday — inmates at Seoul Detention Center will receive bone broth and napa cabbage soup, dried radish salad and kimchi for breakfast. Lunch will consist of aged kimchi hangover soup, steamed egg, drinkable yogurt and cubed radish kimchi, while dinner will feature sesame rice dumpling soup, braised pork and kimchi.

At Seoul Southern Detention Center, breakfast will include shiitake mushroom and fish cake soup, dried radish salad and kimchi. Lunch will feature fermented soybean paste stew, fried fish, mixed vegetables, gochujang and radish salad, while dinner will consist of pork kimchi stew, steamed egg, stir-fried anchovies with green peppers and young radish kimchi.

The couple received no special holiday meals during last year's Chuseok or this year's Lunar New Year either, with menus consisting of the regular dishes served on those days of the week.

Former presidents held in detention have received special holiday meals in the past. Former President Lee Myung-bak was given peaches and mango juice at Anyang Prison during the 2021 Chuseok holiday, while former President Park Geun-hye reportedly received songpyeon rice cakes and other items at Seoul Detention Center during her first Chuseok there in 2017.

Under the enforcement decree of the Act on the Execution of Sentences and Treatment of Inmates, prison wardens may provide special food to inmates on national holidays or equivalent occasions. Chuseok and Lunar New Year are public holidays rather than national holidays, but special meals had previously been provided under the "equivalent occasions" provision. The Ministry of Justice discontinued the practice starting with last year's Lunar New Year, however, meaning inmates will eat regular meals throughout this holiday as well.

General visits and phone calls will also be suspended during the Chuseok holiday. The Ministry of Justice said outdoor exercise will be left to each facility to arrange at its own discretion based on staffing and conditions. Rehabilitation programs and joint ancestral rites will likewise proceed at each institution's judgment.

During this year's Lunar New Year holiday, inmates were allowed just one exercise session for the entire break, compared with the usual once-daily allotment. The ministry said at the time that exercise is in principle suspended during holidays, but that one session was permitted in consideration of inmates spending an extended period indoors. General visits were also restricted.

This Chuseok marks Yoon's fourth holiday in detention. He spent the 2025 Lunar New Year at Seoul Detention Center and has remained in custody through that year's Chuseok, this year's Lunar New Year and now this Chuseok. For Kim, it is her third holiday behind bars since last year's Chuseok.


yg@heraldcorp.com