After a nearly six-hour standoff with the presidential security service on Friday, South Korean investigators were unable to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. South Korea is now facing a political crisis after two back-to-back presidential impeachments.

Concerned for the safety of its personnel, the nation's anti-corruption agency said in a statement that it pulled its investigators after they were barred from visiting Yoon's official residence. "Serious regret about the suspect's attitude, who did not respond to a process by law," it stated. The office mentioned that it would discuss the next steps, but did not say right away if it would try to detain Yoon again. The detention warrant is valid for one week.

Earlier, South Korean investigators spent hours outside Yoon's official residence, but they were stopped by the presidential security service, preventing them from carrying out a warrant to arrest him. Yoon's lawyers, who filed an objection to the warrant on Thursday, argue that it cannot be executed at his residence because a law protects places that may be linked to military secrets from searches without the consent of the person in charge. The warrant is valid for one week. On Friday, thousands of police officers surrounded a swelling contingent of pro-Yoon demonstrators who withstood hours of below-freezing conditions while screaming chants in his favour and waving American and South Korean flags before his home. Significant altercations outside the house were not immediately reported.

Nearly five hours after dozens of investigators and police officers were seen entering the gate of the residence in Seoul to carry out a warrant for Yoon's detention, the situation seemed to have turned into a standoff. Around noon, two of Yoon's lawyers, Yoon Kap-keun and Kim Hong-il, were seen entering the gate of the presidential residence.