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 Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged insurrection and in between being questioned the suspended leader is expected to be held in a solitary cell at a detention centre.