“Yoon Suk Yeol: 1.95 billion won, Kim Keon Hee: 240 million won” ... Push to cap inmate deposits

[Financial News] It has emerged that the total amount deposited for former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, since they were detained has reached 2.19 billion won. In response, Seo Young-kyo, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill to cap the amount of money inmates can receive.
The bill to partially amend the Act on the Execution of Sentences and Treatment of Inmates, introduced by Seo as its lead sponsor on the 27th, would establish a legal basis for limits on the amount of money held for inmates and restrictions on its use. The bill states: “Current law requires correctional facilities to hold the cash inmates have with them when they are admitted and money transferred to inmates by people other than the inmates themselves, but there is no legal basis for limits on the funds held at correctional facilities or restrictions on their use.”
The amendment identifies the lack of rules limiting funds held for inmates and restricting their use as a problem. The bill states that “as a result, some inmates with political motives have been urging people to send them money, receiving large sums from people outside the facility who respond to their appeals, and, when the limit on their inmate account is reached, transferring the money to a separate personal account and continuing to receive further deposits.”
The bill also cites the amount of inmate funds received by the former president and his wife. It states: “Even in the case of an inmate detained and standing trial on charges including being the ringleader of an insurrection, the cumulative amount deposited over 14 months reached 1,948,520,000 won, while the detained spouse of the ringleader of an insurrection received about 240 million won over 13 months.” It added: “We seek to set a limit on funds held for inmates, establish a legal basis for other restrictions on their use, and provide a basis for refusing transfers when the limit is exceeded.”
According to data released during this year’s parliamentary audit, former President Yoon received about 1.95 billion won in inmate deposits from his rearrest on July 10 last year through September 9 this year. About 240 million won was deposited for Kim from her detention on August 12 last year through the same date. The total deposited for the two was 2.19 billion won, about eight times this year’s presidential annual salary of 270 million won.
Seo had earlier criticized the way inmates’ deposits are managed during the Ministry of Justice’s parliamentary audit on the 8th. At the time, she demanded to know, “When the inmate funds reach 4 million won, why does an employee at the Correctional Service headquarters take the money out the next day and put it into a personal deposit account?” She added, “Is that something the Correctional Service headquarters should be doing?”
She went on to criticize the practice, saying, “Why show such kindness? Don’t do that,” and, “If 2 billion won comes in each year, [former President Yoon] is serving a life sentence now, so he’ll become a man with a fortune in the 100-billion-won range.”

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter