A standoff between rival government forces outside the presidential compound in South Korea has been a startling development, even for observers used to the country's famously rough and tumble politics.

South Korea’s anti-graft agency will seek to extend an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, as pressure mounted on law enforcement to resolve the country’s escalating political crisis.

Blocked by bodyguards, officials retreated after several hours without serving a court warrant to hold President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning on insurrection charges.

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.

Lawyers of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) probing his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 are at odds over whether the CIO has the authority to arrest and pursue criminal charges against him.

As an expiration deadline for the arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol loomed Sunday, protesters and counter-protesters braved freezing temperatures and snow to gather outside of his home.