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Yoon Suk Yeol received $1.15 mil. in prison deposits over 1 year, 6.3 times presidential salary
People watch a live broadcast of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's trial verdict on charges of making false statements at Seoul Station, Monday. Yoon was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, suspended for three years, in the first ruling on the case. Yonhap
By Park Ung
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol received more than 1.7 billion won ($1.15 million) in prison deposits over the past year, more than six times the president's salary this year of 271 million won.
According to the office of Rep. Park Eun-jung of the Rebuilding Korea Party, Tuesday, the inmate who received the most prison deposits at the Seoul Detention Center from July 10, 2025 to July 10, 2026 received 1,714,700,137 won. The inmate is reportedly Yoon.
Yoon was returned to detention in July last year and received the deposits over 39,829 transactions. The total is about 13 times that of the second-highest recipient at the Seoul Detention Center, who received 131 million won. Yoon withdrew 99.46 percent of the total in 511 transactions.
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, meanwhile, topped the list of prison deposit recipients at the Seoul Nambu Detention Center from Aug. 12 last year to July 10 this year, receiving 171 million won.
Kim received prison deposits 8,119 times during the period and withdrew 94.5 percent of the total in 92 transactions.
Yoon and Kim are believed to have transferred the deposits to external accounts. Correctional facilities cap prison deposits at 4 million won, with any amount exceeding that limit paid out upon release or transferred to a personal account upon request.
Meanwhile, Yoon was sentenced Monday to a year and a half in prison, suspended for three years, for making false statements during the 2022 presidential campaign. The ruling, if upheld, will require the main opposition People Power Party to return 39.7 billion won in campaign reimbursements.