South Korean authorities are charged with arresting deposed leader Yoon | Political Affairs

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Yoon's security team is preventing investigators from issuing an arrest warrant, local media said.

South Korean authorities clashed with President Yoon Suk-yeol's security team after they arrived at the ousted leader's residence to issue an arrest warrant for his temporary declaration of martial law.

Dozens of police and anti-corruption investigators arrived at Yoon's compound in Seoul early Friday morning to arrest the embattled leader but were prevented by the Presidential Security Department.

PSS chief Park Chong-jun refused to join investigators after citing restrictions on protected areas, state-backed Yonhap News Agency reported, citing unnamed police sources.

“CIO prosecutors and investigators are facing a disagreement with the Presidential Security Service in front of the residence after passing the first and second barriers,” Yonhap quoted the police chief as saying.

Yoon's security detail had previously prevented investigators from executing several search warrants targeting the president, whose brief imposition of martial law on December 3 plunged the East Asian country into its deepest political crisis in decades.

Speculation has been rife about when and how authorities will take Yoon into custody since a Seoul court earlier this week granted prosecutors' request for his arrest.

If he is arrested, the conservative leader will become the first president to be imprisoned in South Korea's history.

Yoon Kap-keun, Yoon's lawyer, on Friday reiterated his opinion that the investigators are acting against their authority and the law, a day after the president's legal team filed a request to block the warrant from the country's Constitutional Court.

In a defiant New Year's message to supporters gathered outside his house, Yoon pledged to “fight to the end to protect this country and you”.

Yoon defended his brief declaration of martial law as legitimate and necessary, citing the need to “eliminate pro-North Korean forces” and investigate unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

In a tense situation, thousands of Yoon's supporters have gathered outside his front yard in recent days to demand an end to the investigation and a postponement of his impeachment.

“President Yoon Suk-yeol will be protected by the people” and “the illegal executive order is invalid”, the protesters said on Thursday.

Authorities have deployed some 2,700 police and 135 buses to the area to quell violence among anti-Yoon protesters, state-backed Yonhap News Agency reported.

If convicted of treason, one of the few crimes for which a sitting president does not enjoy immunity from prosecution, Yoon faces severe penalties, including life in prison and the death penalty.

Yoon, who was the nation's chief prosecutor before entering politics, has been suspended since December 14, when Parliament voted 204-85 to remove him from office.

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok has served as acting president since Dec. 27, when the legislature voted to censure Yoon's successor, Han Duck-soo, for refusing to quickly fill three vacancies on the Constitutional Court, debating whether to follow Yoon's decision. . impeachment or restore his presidential authority.

The court has six months left to issue its decision, as at least six judges on the nine-member bench are required to uphold Yoon's trial and remove him from office.