Yu Young-cheol and Kang Ho-soon, New Year's Special Meal with 'Yugwa and Bulgogi'... What Is the Seoul Detention Center Menu?

by Kim Eunha

Published 01 Jan.2024 08:46(KST)

Updated 01 Jan.2024 08:52(KST)

Daily Meal Cost per Inmate: 4,994 Won

The new year of Gapjin (갑진년) has dawned on January 1st at Seoul Detention Center, where high-profile figures such as former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil and death row inmates like Kang Ho-soon, Yoo Young-chul, and Jung Doo-young are held.

Seoul Detention Center announced that on the first day of Gapjin year, inmates will be served a special lunch featuring yugwa (traditional Korean sweets). The lunch menu includes black rice, soybean paste stew, pork gochujang bulgogi, preserved gongchae namul, napa cabbage kimchi, and the special treat yugwa. The yugwa was prepared with a budget of less than 2,000 KRW per person. Inmates receive about five pieces of yugwa along with their lunch meal.

Not related to the article content / Photo by Pixabay

Breakfast consists of handmade potato soup, seasoned perilla leaves, and napa cabbage kimchi. Dinner includes tuna kimchi soup, stir-fried anchovies with almonds, seasoned green onion radish salad, and napa cabbage kimchi.

Currently, the daily meal budget per inmate is 4,994 KRW, which amounts to approximately 1,665 KRW per meal.

Special meals were also provided on the previous Christmas. On Christmas Eve, December 24th, ox bone soup, green onion yukgaejang, and dumpling soup were served, while on Christmas Day, beef seaweed soup, grilled short rib patties, and chicken soup were distributed.

Regarding criticisms about "luxurious meals for death row inmates," a Seoul Detention Center official told JTBC, “The meal budget is 1,600 KRW per person per meal, and we provide meals within this budget. From a human rights perspective, basic food, clothing, and shelter must be guaranteed. We operate the meal plan within the legal framework.”

Correctional institutions typically prepare special meals for inmates on holidays such as Lunar New Year, Chuseok, National Foundation Day, Christmas, Buddha’s Birthday, and Correction Day. Previously, during former President Park Geun-hye’s incarceration at Seoul Detention Center in 2017, songpyeon (rice cakes) were served for Chuseok, and in 2021, while former President Lee Myung-bak was held at Anyang Prison, a pack of peaches and mango juice were provided as Chuseok special meals.