Seoul, South Korea: South Korean investigators said they are halting attempts to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol after facing resistance from security forces said local media reports. The investigators sought to arrest Yoon over a failed martial law stunt he pulled last month.

Dozens of police and anticorruption investigators arrived at Yoon’s compound in Seoul early on Friday morning to detain the embattled leader but were blocked by the Presidential Security Service (PSS).

Also Read: South Korea: Court Issues Arrest Warrant Against President Yoon Over Martial Law Decree

Yoon would become the first sitting president to be arrested in the history of South Korea. He has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers. He faces imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.

“The execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol has begun,” said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is probing Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law.

CIO investigators, including senior prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan, were let through heavy security barricades to enter the residence to attempt to execute their warrant to detain Yoon, AFP reporters stated.

PSS chief Park Jong-joon denied entry to officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) after citing restrictions on secured areas, the state-funded news agency Yonhap reported, citing anonymous police sources.

But they were “blocked by a military unit inside” after entering, Yonhap reported. They later “moved past” that unit to “confront security service” members inside the residence, as per the report.

Also Read: Bird Strike, Belly Landing, No Circling; Mystery Looms On South Korea Plane Crash

It had been unclear whether the Presidential Security Service, which still protects Yoon as the country’s sitting head of state, would comply with investigators’ warrants. Yoon’s security detail has previously blocked investigators from executing several search warrants directed at the president.

The President’s legal team decried the attempt to execute the arrest warrant, vowing to take further legal action against the move. “The execution of a warrant that is illegal and invalid is indeed not lawful,” Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kap-keun said.

Dozens of police buses and hundreds of uniformed police lined the street outside the compound in central Seoul, AFP reporters said. Some 2,700 police and 135 police buses have been deployed to the area to prevent clashes, Yonhap reported, after Yoon’s supporters faced off with anti-Yoon demonstrators Thursday.

Yoon has been inside the residence since a court approved the warrant to detain him earlier this week, vowing to “fight” authorities seeking to question him over his failed martial law bid. He declared martial law on December 3, plunging the East Asian country into its deepest political crisis in decades.

Also Read: South Korean Parliament Impeaches President Yoon Suk Yeol

Yoon Kap-keun, a lawyer for Yoon, reiterated his position that investigators were acting outside their authority and the law, a day after the president’s legal team filed for an injunction to block the warrant at the country’s Constitutional Court.

As per local media reports, CIO officials want to arrest Yoon and take him to their office in Gwacheon near Seoul for questioning. After that, he can be held for up to 48 hours on the existing warrant. Investigators need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.

After a chaotic protest erupted Thursday, a handful of Yoon’s supporters, which included far-right YouTube personalities and evangelical Christian preachers, had camped outside his compound all night, with some even holding all-night prayer sessions.

(With inputs from agencies)