The development, which followed a failed arrest attempt earlier in January, deepens the fallout from his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.

South Korean investigators arrested impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday for alleged insurrection over his bid to impose martial law, after weeks of defiance and claims by Yoon and his lawyers that the arrest warrant was invalid.

Yoon was brought into custody about three hours after hundreds of law enforcement officers entered the residential compound in their second attempt to detain him.