“Ironically, it was after I was impeached that I truly realized that I am, indeed, the president,” Mr. Yoon said in a lengthy statement on Wednesday.
Many South Korean politicians and dignitaries — including two former presidents and Lee Jae-yong, the head of the Samsung conglomerate — have been held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, a city south of Seoul. When he was a prosecutor, Mr. Yoon helped put one of the two former presidents, Park Geun-hye, there on corruption charges. The jail also holds some of the country’s most infamous death row inmates, including serial killers.
Government officials said Mr. Yoon would get no special treatment, except that he would be kept in a room of his own, away from other detainees and inmates. After his formal arrest, he was expected to go through a simple medical checkup and receive a toothbrush and other necessities for jail life. He would be assigned an inmate number and a pea-green jail uniform.
His cell will have a TV set, a sink, a small cupboard, a reading desk that doubles as a dinner table, and a foldable mattress for sleeping. The cell has a toilet but no shower. The space will be monitored around the clock through closed-circuit television.
Mr. Yoon has been an avid follower of right-wing YouTubers who supported his government and spread conspiracy theories that depicted his domestic enemies as dangerous sympathizers with North Korea and China. Since he declared martial law on Dec. 3, Mr. Yoon has said his action was inspired in part by the same fear, indignation and suspicions spread by the extremists on YouTube.
