Blocked by bodyguards, officials retreated after several hours without serving a court warrant to hold President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning on insurrection charges.

South Korea's political leadership was in uncharted territory Saturday after the sitting president resisted arrest over a failed martial law decree days before the warrant expires.The South Korean president was impeached and suspended last month after the bungled martial law declaration -- a political move swiftly overturned by parliament -- with a separate warrant later issued for his arrest.

Yoon Suk Yeol’s bodyguards thwarted investigators in another tense showdown resulting from his short-lived martial law decree.