Yoon held after 5-hour standoff

Investigators bypass bus barricades, cut barbed wire, scale walls before the president gave up

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IMPEACHED South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities and becoming the first sitting president to be detained in the nation's history.

Yoon, who faces charges of insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, said he would comply with investigators to avoid "bloodshed".

A former prosecutor who led the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to election victory in 2022, Yoon could face the death penalty or life in jail if found guilty of insurrection.

He had sought to evade arrest for weeks by remaining in his residential compound, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) who had remained loyal to him.