South Korean police arrive at president’s home to arrest him – latest updates

A barricade of police buses set up near the impeached president’s official residence after investigators from the state anti-corruption agency left their office to execute a warrant to detain Yoon. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA

A barricade of police buses are set up near impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's official residence. Photograph: YONHAP/EPA

Police officers stand guard in front of Yoon Suk Yeol’s official residence in Seoul. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Authorities are now at President Yoon’s residence, YTN is reporting.

Yoon has been isolated since he was impeached and suspended from power on 14 December.

South Korean authorities are near Yoon’s residence to carry out an arrest warrant for the impeached president, YTN is reporting.

Yonhap reported that officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is leading a joint team of investigators that include the police and prosecutors, had left their headquarters to execute the warrant against Yoon.

Broadcaster YTN reported that about 2,800 police had been mobilised in preparation for executing the warrant.

It was unclear exactly how police would make the arrest and whether the Presidential Security Service, which has blocked access by investigators with a search warrant to Yoon’s office and official residence, would try to stop it.

About 100 protesters were gathered in the early hours near his residence, amid local media reports that investigating authorities would soon try to execute an arrest warrant that was approved on Tuesday after Yoon refused summons to appear.

About a dozen protesters tried to block a group of police officers at the entrance to a pedestrian overpass, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, Yoon rallied his supporters in a letter saying he will “fight until the end”.

“I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,” Yoon wrote late on Wednesday to the hundreds of supporters who had gathered near his official residence to protest against the investigation into him.

“I will fight until the end to protect this country together with you,” he said in the letter, a photo capture of which was sent to the media by Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon.

South Korean authorities are en route to execute an arrest warrant against president Yoon Suk Yeol, Yonhap news agency said.

A court in Seoul had issued an arrest warrant on 31st December against Yoon over his attempt to impose martial law on 3rd December.

The warrant comes after Yoon, who is being investigated for abusing his power and inciting an insurrection, ignored three summonses to appear for questioning over the past two weeks.

His legal team called the warrant “illegal and invalid” and said they would challenge it in court.

Yoon is South Korea’s first sitting president to face arrest.