South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested, six weeks after his short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
A motorcade of black SUVs was seen leaving the gates of his hillside residence where he had been holed up for weeks behind barbed wire and a small army of personal security.
Mr Yoon said the “rule of law has completely collapsed” in a video message recorded before he was escorted to the headquarters of an anti-corruption agency.
He said he was complying with the detention warrant to prevent clashes between police and the presidential security service.
However his compliance has not extended as far as actually cooperating with officers, according to the Corruption Investigation Office, which said he was refusing to talk.
It added that he would be held at the Seoul Detention Centre for now.
Mr Yoon’s lawyers had tried to persuade investigators not to execute the arrest warrant, saying the president would voluntarily appear for questioning, but the agency declined.
Police had been trying to access the president’s official office to detain him but had become engaged in a standoff with Mr Yoon’s security service.
Hours later hundreds of officers made it onto the grounds of the property by using ladders to climb over barriers
Earlier police said they had deployed 3,200 officers to execute the arrest warrant.
One person who collapsed amid the standoff has been transported away from the scene by the fire department, local media said.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Mr Yoon’s martial law declaration on 3 December amounted to an attempted rebellion.
