South Korean Investigators Are Trying Again to Arrest President Yoon at His Residence

Criminal investigators armed with a warrant launched a much-anticipated second operation on Wednesday to detain ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning on treason charges stemming from his brief imposition of martial law last month.

Police buses began piling up before dawn outside the presidential compound at the top of the hill where Mr. Yoon has been held there since he was impeached – and impeached – by the National Assembly on December 14. He was the first South Korean leader to put his country under arrest. military rule since the country’s democratization in the late 1980s.

Investigators and police met at the main gate of Mr. Yoon before dawn on Wednesday, but faced a convoy of buses and presidential guards blocking the gate leading up to Mr. Yoon’s residence. The standoff was repeated when investigators first visited his residence to issue an arrest warrant on Jan. 3. Then, they were overtaken by the agents of the presidential guard and had to beat a humiliating retreat after a skirmish that lasted for five and a half hours.

Investigators have regrouped since their first failed attempt to arrest Mr. Yoon, they renewed their warrant and said they will bring more police the next time they visit his residence. Police officials said they planned to deploy 1,000 officers, including units focused on drugs and gangs, and vowed to arrest anyone who interfered.

On Wednesday morning, the lawyers of Mr. Yoon, his party’s lawyers and members of the presidential security service stood outside the compound’s gates, as if he and his supporters were preparing to resist new attempts to arrest him.

Live footage of the road leading up to his compound in the morning showed a tense atmosphere in sub-freezing temperatures, with jostling and physical fighting at the same time.

Since the effort to detain Mr. Yoon’s guards have reinforced the compound by sending more buses and razor wire to block the gates and walls. Mr. Yoon has vowed to “fight to the end” to return to office and said he will not submit to the court’s mandate, which he considers illegal.

The acting president of South Korea, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, warned the government agencies involved in the fight against violence.

“All people and the international community are watching this,” he said in a statement. “We cannot tolerate physical violence for any purpose because it will irreparably damage public trust and our international reputation.”

An attempt to take Mr. Yoon is the first time in South Korea’s history that authorities have tried to arrest a sitting president. The events unfolding are all over the country, as news and social media broadcast live. There is a fear of violent conflict if neither side is backing down.

The previous day, the Constitutional Court started a trial on whether to strip Mr. Yoon, who didn’t come. His lawyers said he was afraid that the investigators would arrest him if he left the presidential palace.

In a last-ditch effort to issue a warrant, the Presidential Security Service, the government agency tasked with protecting the president and his family, was superior to the Chief Corruption Investigation Office, or CIO, which sought to detain him with the help of the police. It deployed 200 security guards and soldiers to block 100 CIO agents and police.

It was not clear how much manpower the president’s security team would have in its efforts to stop a new attempt to arrest Mr. Yoon.

The army guards the perimeter of the presidential building. But after the initial conflict, the defense branch told the presidential defense branch that it could no longer use the military to block the delivery of the letter, saying that this was not the military’s job.