The special prosecutor for insurrection announced on the 16th that it had imposed a ban on meetings with external persons for former President Yoon Suk-yeol, except for his attorneys and family. The special prosecutor also stated that, starting that morning, it was conducting searches at eight locations, including the residence of former National Intelligence Service Director Jo Tae-yong. Jo is under suspicion of evidence tampering related to the 12-3 martial law.
Special prosecutor Park Ji-young stated during a media briefing that "since 7 a.m. today, we have been conducting searches at eight locations, including former Director Jo's residence, regarding evidence tampering after the insurrection."
Former Director Jo is suspected of being involved in the deletion of classified information regarding former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former National Intelligence Service Deputy Director Hong Jang-won, which was remotely erased following the martial law.
Special prosecutor Park also noted, "Since the afternoon of the 16th, we have decided to prohibit all meetings with the suspect, except for family and attorneys, until the indictment of former President Yoon, and directed this to the head of the Seoul Detention Center." He added, "This was handled in principle according to the criteria for banning meetings that apply to general suspects during the investigation process."
Former President Yoon was scheduled to meet with Moos Tan (Korean name Dan Hyun-myung), a professor at Liberty University in the U.S. and a former U.S. State Department ambassador for international criminal justice, at the detention center from 4:20 p.m. that afternoon. Tan is a controversial figure who raised allegations of election fraud during the 21st presidential election. However, the special prosecutor's ban on meetings with external persons for former President Yoon resulted in this meeting being canceled.
The special prosecutor for insurrection has issued a third directive to the Seoul Detention Center, ordering them to bring former President Yoon to the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office by 2 p.m. that day. Previously, after being detained by the special prosecutor on the 10th, former President Yoon did not respond to summons on the 11th and 14th. In response, the special prosecutor attempted to compel his appearance on the 14th and 15th, but these attempts were all unsuccessful.