Investigators scale barbed wire to arrest S Korea’s impeached president

Yoon is expected to be detained at the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, approximately 5km (3 mi) from the CIO’s office.

If a court doesn’t issue a detention warrant within 48 hours of Yoon’s arrest, however, he will be released, and free to return to the presidential residence.

Yoon has been questioned by investigators but has invoked the right to remain silent.

While the arrest of a sitting president is remarkable for South Korean politics, the country’s political crisis is far from over. It is just another phase in an unfolding political drama.

The crowds outside Yoon’s house on Wednesday morning underscored the deep divisions in the country.

The anti-Yoon crowd cheered, clapped and blasted out a “congratulations and celebrations” song at the announcement of his arrest.

The atmosphere is completely different on the other side.

“We are very upset and angry – the rule of law has broken down,” a Yoon supporter told the BBC.

The standoff also pitted two branches of executive power against each other: law enforcement officers, armed with a legal arrest warrant and presidential security staff, who said they were duty bound to protect the suspended president.

Even before his martial law declaration, Yoon had been reduced to a lame duck leader as the opposition party held the majority in parliament.

He has also faced controversy over his wife for receiving a Dior bag as a gift.