This photo taken on Jan. 3, 2025 shows cars carrying South Korean investigators running on the way to the presidential residence in central Seoul, South Korea. A group of South Korean prosecutors and investigators of the anti-corruption investigative unit launched an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, multiple media outlets said Friday. (NEWSIS via Xinhua)

SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A group of South Korean prosecutors and investigators of the anti-corruption investigative unit launched an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, multiple media outlets said Friday.

The prosecutors and investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) walked into a road at the main gate leading to the presidential residence in central Seoul, TV footage showed.

The investigators were reportedly confronting agents of the presidential security service, who protect Yoon at close range inside the residence.

The CIO warned earlier that if the security service blocked the arrest, it would be a crime of obstruction of justice.

The detention warrant against Yoon was issued by a Seoul court on Tuesday to question the impeached leader over his martial law imposition on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, that was revoked by the National Assembly hours later. Yoon had been named by investigative agencies as a suspected ringleader on insurrection charge.

About 2,700 riot policemen were reportedly deployed to the residence to help proceed with the arrest warrant.

The CIO has been investigating Yoon's martial law imposition jointly with the National Office of Investigation (NOI) and the defense ministry's investigation headquarters.

The impeachment motion against Yoon was passed in the National Assembly on Dec. 14 and was delivered to the constitutional court to deliberate it for up to 180 days, during which Yoon's power is suspended. ■

South Korean investigators and policemen prepare to enter the presidential residence in central Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 3, 2025. A group of South Korean prosecutors and investigators of the anti-corruption investigative unit launched an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, multiple media outlets said Friday. (NEWSIS via Xinhua)

This photo taken on Jan. 3, 2025 shows cars carrying South Korean investigators running on the way to the presidential residence in central Seoul, South Korea. A group of South Korean prosecutors and investigators of the anti-corruption investigative unit launched an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, multiple media outlets said Friday. (NEWSIS via Xinhua)