The police are investigating whether President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to lead an insurrection when he declared martial law and plunged the country into crisis.

Yoon Suk Yeol’s bodyguards thwarted investigators in another tense showdown resulting from his short-lived martial law decree.

A prolonged period of uncertainty over the fate of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the botched attempt to arrest him are giving oxygen to his backers and reviving support for his troubled party.

Authorities sought on Friday to execute an unprecedented arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, evading a crowd of protesters but facing off with security forces inside his residence.

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol remained defiantly inside his residence resisting arrest for a third day on Thursday, after vowing to "fight" authorities seeking to question him over his failed martial law bid.

South Korean law enforcement officials have requested a court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree this month amounted to rebellion.

The impeached president faces an attempt by authorities to arrest him over his short-lived Dec. 3 martial law.

It was unclear when and how police could make the arrest and whether the presidential security service, which has blocked access by investigators with a search warrant to Yoon's office and official residence,

Yoon Kab-keun, one of the lawyers representing South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, said on Thursday that Yoon was staying in his official residence. The lawyer made the comment in a briefing to reporters following recent speculation over the suspended president's whereabouts.