Investigators with South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office, CIO, have arrived to enforce an arrest warrant for the country’s impeached president at his residence in Seoul on Friday morning local time, CNN quoted a Yonhap News Agency report.

President Yoon Suk Yeol is wanted for questioning in multiple investigations, including accusations of leading an insurrection – a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty – after he suddenly declared martial law in early December.

A court on Tuesday approved the warrant for Yoon – the first time such a move has been taken toward a sitting president, deepening a dramatic showdown between investigators and the president.

In response, the presidential security team said that “security measures will be taken in accordance with due process for matters related to the execution of warrants.”

The leader was stripped of his presidential powers last month by a parliamentary vote to impeach him, which came after some members of his own ruling party turned on him following his refusal to resign over his short-lived decree.

Yoon, himself a former prosecutor, had refused to answer three summonses by investigators in recent weeks asking for his cooperation, according to the CIO.

The suspended president has remained defiant in the face of investigations and an impeachment trial underway by one of the country’s highest courts, vowing to “fight to the end” for the country.

The statement, which was shared with supporters gathered outside his residence earlier this week, was his first public comment in weeks after largely staying away from public light in the fallout of his widely condemned decree.

Vanguard News