South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a new and potentially more robust attempt to arrest him on insurrection charges after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the impeached leader.

South Korean authorities have granted a request to extend a warrant to detain the country’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning over his surprise declaration of martial law last month.

Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and assisting police officers attempted to detain the impeached president on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense five-hour standoff with the presidential security service.