South Korean investigators have suspended efforts to enforce an arrest warrant for embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, hours into a standoff in which authorities tried to detain the leader following his short-lived martial law declaration.

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

A South Korean court on Tuesday approved an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, the embattled leader who plunged the country into political chaos by his shock decision to declare martial law nearly a month ago.

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a defiant statement to his conservative supporters gathered outside his residence in the capital of Seoul, vowing to “fight to the end” against what he called “anti-state forces,

South Korean investigators entered the residential compound of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol early Friday morning to enforce an unprecedented arrest warrant, as hundreds gathered to support the embattled leader who plunged the nation into political chaos with a swiftly overturned declaration of martial law last month.

Investigators in South Korea attempt to arrest President Yoon

South Korean investigators abandoned their attempt to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence on Friday over a failed martial law bid, citing safety concerns after a standoff