South Korea authorities seek to arrest Yoon at suspended leader’s residence

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Yoon faces becoming the first sitting president to be detained in country’s history.

South Korean authorities have arrived at the residence of President Yoon Suk-yeol to arrest the impeached leader over his short-lived declaration of martial law.

Dozens of police and anticorruption investigators entered the gate of Yoon’s compound in Seoul early on Friday morning to execute a warrant for his arrest over his brief imposition of martial law on December 3, which plunged the East Asian nation into its deepest political crisis in decades.

“The execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol has begun,” the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials said in a statement.

It is unclear if Yoon, who is being investigated on suspicion of insurrection and abuse of power, will cooperate with authorities seeking to detain him.

Speculation about when and how authorities would take Yoon into custody has swirled since a Seoul court earlier this week granted prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant.

Yoon’s security detail has previously blocked investigators from executing several search warrants directed at the president.

In a defiant New Year’s message to supporters gathered outside his residence, Yoon pledged to “fight to the end” against “antistate forces”.

If arrested, Yoon would be the first sitting president taken into custody in South Korean history.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies