N Korea says South in 'political chaos' over Yoon arrest drama

South Korea's presidential guards and military troops prevented authorities from arresting impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday in a tense six-hour stand-off inside Yoon's compound in the heart of Seoul.

- Reuters

Reuters [e-mail] SEOUL: South Korea's presidential guards and military troops prevented authorities from arresting impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday in a tense six-hour stand-off inside Yoon's compound in the heart of Seoul.

Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his December 3 martial law bid that stunned South Korea and led to the first arrest warrant to be issued for a sitting president. "It was judged that it was virtually impossible to execute the arrest warrant due to the ongoing standoff," the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) said in a statement.

CIO officials and police evaded hundreds of Yoon supporters who gathered in pre-dawn hours near his residence on Friday, who adopted the "Stop the Steal" slogans popularised by US President-elect Donald Trump's supporters, to block the arrest.

Officials from the CIO, which is leading a joint team of investigators, arrived at the gates of the presidential compound shortly after 7am (local time) and entered on foot.