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Former President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to reporters as he arrives at the Seoul Central District Court for a warrant hearing in Seocho District, Seoul, on July 9. / Source: Yonhap News

South Korea’s Justice Ministry said Tuesday it is investigating the leak of closed-circuit television footage that allegedly shows former President Yoon Suk-yeol inside a detention facility.

A ministry official told reporters, “We have confirmed the leaked footage and are working to determine how it was released.”

The 19-second video, titled “Yoon Suk-yeol detention footage leak,” has been circulating online since appearing on an internet community site. It shows a man in a suit, believed to be Yoon, in a scuffle with correctional officers inside what appears to be a solitary cell at the Seoul Detention Center. The clip is believed to have been recorded from a monitor displaying a live YouTube stream of CCTV footage. As of 8:39 p.m. Tuesday, the post had been viewed more than 120,000 times.

The controversy comes a day after lawmakers from the Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party, both members of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, visited the Seoul Detention Center on September 1. They reviewed CCTV recordings to examine whether Yoon had received preferential treatment while in custody and whether he resisted during the execution of a special counsel’s arrest warrant.

The on-site inspection followed a committee vote on August 26 approving the plan by 10 votes to 5. Lawmakers had said they would carefully consider whether to release the footage publicly. The leak is now expected to spark further political debate.