The impeached president faces an attempt by authorities to arrest him over his short-lived Dec. 3 martial law.

South Korean authorities moved Friday to execute an unprecedented arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched attempt to declare martial law last month.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives late Sunday in crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has defended his failed martial law bid by rehashing baseless claims of voter fraud, which has triggered a fresh wave of misinformation online targeting the National Election Commission (NEC).

According to North Korean state media, South Korea’s state has been “paralyzed,” with the country experiencing “spiraling socio-political confusion.” These comments from Pyongyang followed a prolonged political crisis in South Korea triggered by the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law and the subsequent impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The police are investigating whether President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to lead an insurrection when he declared martial law and plunged the country into crisis.

It was unclear when and how police could 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,

South Korean investigators attempted to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence Friday over a failed martial law bid but were blocked by his security forces. But executing this type of warrant,

South Korea is still in a week of mourning because of the plane crash that killed close to 200 people. Its finance minister is now the acting president dealing with the tragedy. The Conversation talked to Rob York from the Pacific Forum about the latest developments in South Korea.

Any “us vs. them” dynamic can be dangerous for democracy. But when that divide centers on mutually exclusive visions of a nation, the effects are uniquely detrimental.

South Korea’s presidential guards and military troops prevented authorities from arresting Yoon Suk Yeol, the impeached president, on Friday in a tense six-hour stand-off inside his compound in the heart of Seoul.