President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has already been impeached, became South Korea’s first sitting leader to be detained after weeks of openly defying authorities.

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.

Yoon’s detention, after a tense standoff outside the presidential residence, marks the latest chapter in a bewildering series of events since his martial law decree.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been detained after a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential compound that ended a weeks-long stand-off between his bodyguards and the country’s anti-corruption agency.

South Korea's anti-corruption agency says impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been detained hours after hundreds of the agency's investigators and police officers arrived at his presidential compound to apprehend him. A series of black SUVs, some equipped with sirens, were seen leaving the presidential compound with police escorts.

Yoon's arrest, the first ever for an incumbent South Korean president, is the latest head-spinning development for one of Asia's most vibrant democracies.

Embattled president had been holed up for weeks while vowing to 'fight to the end' against the efforts to oust him.

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