The impeached president faces attempted detention, fueling the crisis in South Korea

When about 100 criminal investigators and police officers entered a mountain complex in central Seoul on Friday morning, they tried to accomplish something that had never been done before in South Korea: arrest a sitting president.

First, they successfully passed two blockades formed by parked vehicles and people. Then, when they got within 650 feet of the building where President Yoon Suk-yeol was believed to be holed up, they faced an even more formidable barrier: 10 buses and cars along with 200 elite soldiers and Mr. Yoon-seok-yeol’s bodyguards. Presidential Security Service Yoon. Small scuffles broke out as investigators tried in vain to break in and serve a court-issued warrant to remove Mr. Yoon.

Three prosecutors were allowed to approach the building. But there, Mr. Yoon’s lawyers told them they could not serve the arrest warrant because it had been issued “illegally,” according to officials who briefed the media on what happened inside the complex.

Outnumbered, the 100 officials withdrew after a standoff that lasted five and a half hours.

“It is extremely unfortunate,” the Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Bureau, the independent government agency that led the raid on the presidential compound on Friday, said in a statement. It accused Mr. Yoon – who had already been suspended from office after being impeached by Parliament last month – of refusing to honor the court’s arrest warrant. “We will discuss what our next step should be.”

The failure to bring in the deeply unpopular president has deepened a growing sense of helplessness among South Koreans, exacerbated by the country’s sharp polarization of politics. The nation appears rudderless and distracted by infighting at a time when it faces major challenges at home and on the international stage.

There is already uncertainty about its alliance with the United States, as the unpredictable Donald J. Trump prepares to return to the White House. North Korea, Seoul’s decades-long enemy, sought to score propaganda points from the political quagmire in the South, where state media reported that its neighbor was suffering from “paralysis in state administration and mounting social and political confusion.”

And at home, A Jeju Air passenger plane crashes The accident, which killed 179 of the 181 people on board on Sunday, has added to a list of challenges ranging from widespread labor strikes to rising household debt. On Thursday, the Finance Ministry sharply lowered its growth forecast for 2025.

The Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to impeach Mr. Yoon, who was He was removed from office on December 14 By the National Assembly. This came after he suddenly declared martial law 11 days ago, sparking national outrage and calls for his ouster.

On Friday, the embattled Mr. Yoon vowed to fight to return to office through a Constitutional Court trial and showed that he has no intention of voluntarily subjecting himself to criminal investigations. Mr. Yoon faces charges of committing acts of rebellion by sending armed forces to the National Assembly during his short-lived military rule.

The refusal to honor the arrest warrant “continued to add more reasons why he should be removed from office through impeachment,” said Lim Ji-bong, a law professor at Sogang University in Seoul.

“He may think he survived today, but what he did today will not go down well with the judges of the Constitutional Court and the judges who will ultimately try the rebellion case.”

Mr. Yoon is not the first South Korean politician to defy court orders to detain them. In 1995, prosecutors wanted to question former military dictator Chun Doo-hwan on sedition and rebellion charges stemming from his role in the 1979 coup and the massacre of protesters the following year. He defied the summons and headed to his hometown in the south, followed by a crowd of his supporters.

Prosecutors pursued him there. After an overnight standoff, Mr. Chun surrendered himself.

But unlike Mr. Yoon, Mr. Chun was out of office when he faced the mutiny charge. Although Mr. Yoon has been suspended, he remains under guard with the full support of the Presidential Security Service, a government agency that hires teams of elite bodyguards and counter-terrorism experts drawn from the police, military and other government services.

“People who saw him relying on his bodyguards as a shield against his legal problems will view him as a coward,” Mr Lim said.

Investigators warned that they would charge the president’s bodyguards with obstruction of justice.

The Presidential Security Service said in a statement, “We will do everything in our power to provide security for the purpose of our service in accordance with laws and principles.”

Public polls have shown that a majority of South Koreans want Mr. Yoon ousted and punished for rebellion. But his ruling party, which opposed his impeachment, denounced attempts to detain him.

Mr. Yoon also has hard-line supporters — mostly older South Koreans. Thousands of his supporters have been camped out on the sidewalk for days, chanting: “Let’s protect Yoon Suk-yeol!”

In a New Year’s Day message, Mr. Yoon described them as “citizens who love freedom and democracy” and thanked them for braving the cold weather to show their support in the street near his home.

“I will fight with you until the end to save this country,” Mr. Yoon said.

As the officials withdrew from Mr. Yoon’s compound, they shouted: “We have won!”

Protesters demanding Mr. Yoon’s arrest began gathering again on Friday, marching near Mr. Yoon’s home and chanting “Arrest Yoon Suk-yeol!” They, as well as the country’s opposition parties, expressed anger at the failure to arrest Mr. Yoon, describing the presidential security service as “complicit” in the rebellion.

“I’m very angry,” said Lee Yi-seul, 19, a college student in Seoul. “I will speak out so that he is impeached and the people involved in the rebellion are punished.”

For Mr. Yoon’s supporters outside his residence, the security service was the last line of defense to save Mr. Yoon.

“Presidential guards should throw grenades if necessary to prevent them from getting close to the president,” said Lee Yong-jin, 65.

But Mr. Yoon’s tactic of stirring up political divisions to avoid his own legal troubles has reflected poorly on South Korea, said Ahn Byung-jin, a political science professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.

He added that this “exposed the weaknesses of South Korea as a democratic country.”